Stored luminescence computed tomography.

Phosphor nanoparticles made of doped semiconductors and pre-excited by x-ray radiation were recently reported for their luminescence emission in the range of 650-770 nm upon near-infrared (NIR) light stimulation. These nanophosphors can be functionalized as optical probes for molecular imaging. In this paper, we present stored luminescence computed tomography to reconstruct a nanophosphor distribution in an object. The propagation of x rays in a biological object allows significantly better localization and deeper penetration. Moreover, the nanophosphors, which are pre-excited with collimated x-ray beams or focused x-ray waves, can be successively stimulated for stored luminescence emissions by variable NIR stimulation patterns. The sequentially detected luminescence signals provide more information of a nanophosphor spatial distribution for more accurate image reconstruction and higher image resolution. A realistic numerical study is performed to demonstrate the feasibility and merits of the proposed approach.