In digital radiography, what is the effect of higher detector sampling frequency on spatial resolution?

• A. Lower sampling frequency improves spatial resolution.
• B. Higher sampling frequency degrades image quality due to noise.
• C. Sampling frequency has no effect on spatial resolution.
• D. Higher sampling frequency improves spatial resolution by reducing sampling-related blur.

Answer: (D)

Increasing the detector’s sampling frequency means using smaller detector elements so more samples are taken per unit length. This lets the system capture finer details because the digital image can represent higher spatial frequencies more accurately. The blur that comes from having too few samples—the sampling-related blur—is reduced when samples are closer together, so edges and fine textures appear sharper.

Keep in mind that real-world sharpness also depends on intrinsic system factors like focal spot size and detector blur; if those are large, simply increasing sampling frequency won’t fully overcome that limit. But within those constraints, higher sampling frequency improves spatial resolution by reducing the blur introduced by the sampling process.