The invention relates to a multi-layered radiation converter, a radiation detector
comprising such a converter as well as a radiation-based imaging system using such
a detector. Each converter layer (32) in the radiation converter is adapted
for interaction with incident radiation to cause the emission of electrons into
drift holes defined in the converter layer. The drift holes of one converter layer
(32-1) are staggered with respect to the drift holes of another converter
layer (32-2). By mutually shifting the converter layers such that
the drift holes of two different layers are no longer well-aligned, but rather
staggered with respect to each other, the effective conversion area will be increased,
and the probability of incoming radiation passing through the stack without interaction
with the converter layers will be significantly reduced. In this way, high absorption
efficiency for incident radiation inside the multi-layered converter structure
is ensured, while still maintaining transparency for emitted electrons through
the drift holes.
