X-ray imaging is instrumental for a wide range of applications, such as medicine, food, security, industrial non- destructive testing and particle physics, but existing methods remain restricted in terms of flexibility and material cost. Inherent inflexibility of the digital electronics and scintillating materials that are applied in traditional charge-integrating and newer photon-counting detectors can result in inaccurate imaging of complex structures and geometries. Also, existing designs require both scintillating material and electronic hardware systems to be placed across the beam path, resulting in increased manufacturing and maintenance costs due to radiation hardening requirements. The FleX-RAY project intends to re-define X-ray detectors through a completely innovative architecture that places the electronic hardware outside the beam path, leading to reduced material and manufacturing costs.

The FleX-RAY project aims to investigate the development of inherently flexible X-Ray detectors by utilizing scintillating fibers and silicon photomultipliers. The three-year FleX-RAY project is undertaken by a small and dedicated consortium of 5 research institutes and companies across Europe, bringing together expertise in materials, fibre optics, analogue & digital electronics and particle physics. They will be working together to develop the necessary technologies towards producing the world's first ultra-flexible, low-cost, self-shape reporting X-ray detectors.

The FleX-RAY project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 899634.