Data Mining Evoking Scintillators Auto‐Discovery for Low‐LoD High‐Resolution Deep‐Penetrating X‐Ray Imaging of Portable Digital Radiography

Abstract The advancement of portable X‐ray digital radiography devices is currently hindered by the limited penetration depth, limit of detection (LoD), and spatial resolution of commercially available scintillators for X‐ray imaging. In this study, data mining engineering is proposed to boom X‐ray imaging quality via the auto‐discovery of potentially overlooked inorganic scintillators. This mining criteria encompassed the comprehensive set of screening parameters, including equivalent substitution, structural rigidity, effective atomic number, and material density. Among 27 389 potential candidates identified in this analysis, Lu₂WO₆:Eu³⁺ scintillator is successfully mined with the feature of light yield at ≈27 600 photons/MeV. This scintillator exhibits a low LoD of ≈8.5 nGyair s⁻¹‐ significantly lower than the standard dosage typically employed in X‐ray diagnostics. It also demonstrats exceptional reliability in terms of penetration depth and spatial resolution for X‐ray imaging at distances of 51.9 mm and line pairs per millimeter values of 18.2, respectively. The peripheral X‐ray leakage dose of the portable DR device is restricted to only 682 uSv h⁻¹, thus ensuring safe usage without necessitating additional protective measures while enabling various applications such as indoor or outdoor high‐voltage wire damage detection and field first aid.