Chasing snails: Automating the processing of EMCCD images of luminescence from opercula

G. A.T. Duller*, H. M. Roberts

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)
85 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Opercula of the gastropod Bithynia tentaculata are composed of calcite, and are typically 2–4 mm in length. They emit a thermoluminescence (TL) signal that can be used for dose reconstruction, and spatially resolved TL data from them can be obtained using an electron multiplying charge coupled device (EMCCD). However, when multiple measurements are made of the same sample with imaging detectors such as the EMCCD, registering the different images is crucial so that when regions of interest (ROI) are defined they consistently relate to the same part of the specimen. Previous work on opercula has undertaken this registration by hand, but this is prohibitively time consuming and is also potentially prone to human error. An automated registration process is described, and its use is illustrated using a dose recovery experiment. Without registration more than half of the regions of interest defined across the operculum failed the recycling test, and for those ROIs which did pass recycling the dose recovery ratio varied from 0.7 to 1.2. After registration more than 97% of ROIs passed recycling and all these ROIs gave dose recovery ratios within two sigma of unity. The automated registration process described here has potential for application to other types of solid sample such as rock slices provided they are not perfectly circular.

Original languageEnglish
Article number107084
Number of pages7
JournalRadiation Measurements
Volume172
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 06 Mar 2024

Keywords

  • Calcite
  • Data analysis
  • EMCCD
  • Imaging
  • Luminescence
  • TL

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