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An improved form of a new type of electrostatic ion gun, which is suitable for ion etching and ion thinning, is described. It is shown that the device has three main modes of operation, namely an 'oscillating mode', a 'transition mode' and a 'general glow discharge mode'. An explanation of these modes, together with the intensity and profile of the emerging ion beam obtained in each case, is given. It is suggested that advantage can be taken of these effects in specific applications.

We determined the effect of a new scout image acquisition technique (‘smart scout’), which also serves as a tube warm-up, on radiation dose and automatic exposure control (AEC) mA settings. The entrance surface dose (ESD) of a chest phantom with and without the smart scout was measured. A conical AEC phantom was scanned in the setting for abdominal CT, and AEC curves were generated. ESD when the smart scout was not used was 0.75 mGy at 120 kV, 50 mA. ESD when using the smart scout was 0.24 mGy for a body habitus setting of ‘Less’, 0.54 mGy for ‘Moderate’ and 0.95 mGy for ‘More’. When the diameter of the subject was ≥32 cm, the mA setting became lower in ‘Less’. The smart scout reduced exposure at the ‘Less’ and Moderate’ settings compared to the conventional scout scan.