The power of sufficiently-energetic proton beams to penetrate high atomic number (Z) metals, together with the potential for high-dynamic-range measurements, enabled by the roughly linear energy loss mechanism in the material, makes ion beam imaging complementary to x-ray techniques and, in many cases, it is superior. Specifically, x-ray imaging is poor in an object that contains both low- and high-Z materials. This is because the energetic x-rays required to penetrate high-Z material(s) interact weakly with the low-Z materials and therefore provide poor image contrast. Protons, on the other hand, are less sensitive to Z; thus they penetrate the high-Z material, yet are sufficiently influenced by the low-Z material as to provide useful contrast and information. Each proton 'measures' the total electronic density of material that it traverses by its gradual and continuous energy loss as it passes through the object. Measuring the energy loss of a proton beam that has traveled through the target provides information about the line integral of the areal electron density in the material in a single measurement. Repeating this measurement across the target thus provides an electron-density map of the target; reconstructing multiple maps can lead to full 3-D tomographic renderings. The use of proton beams as an imaging probe with micron-scale spatial resolution in spatially extended (mm) targets can be hindered by positional and energy blurring known as straggling. This blurring is caused by the beam's strong interactions with the electrical charge distribution of the material through which it travels.
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