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A modern dental X-ray tube. The heated cathode is on the left. Centre is the anode which is made from tungsten and embedded in the copper sleeve. William Coolidge explains medical imaging and X-rays. An X-ray tube is a vacuum tube that converts electrical input power into X-rays. [1]
Tungsten is a good source for producing this kind of radiation due to its high atomic number and high melting point. The high-energy electrons formed in the cathode side of an X-ray tube can interact with the electrons of a tungsten target on the anode side and produce ionized radiation or white radiation.
An electron beam moving at near the speed of light is smashed into a tungsten target. The electrons are yanked off course by the strong electrostatic pull of the positively charged nuclei in the tungsten atoms, and their sudden change in direction causes them to give off energy in the form of high-energy x-rays in a process called bremsstrahlung.
Conventional X-ray generators, based on electron bombardment of a heavy metal (i.e. tungsten or rhodium) target are most commonly used, because their output can readily be "tuned" for the application, and because higher power can be deployed relative to other techniques. X-ray generators in the range 20–60 kV are used, which allow excitation ...
The electronic structure of tungsten makes it one of the main sources for X-ray targets, [109] [110] and also for shielding from high-energy radiations (such as in the radiopharmaceutical industry for shielding radioactive samples of FDG). It is also used in gamma imaging as a material from which coded apertures are made, due to its excellent ...
Commercially available medical linacs produce X-rays and electrons with an energy range from 4 MeV up to around 25 MeV. The X-rays themselves are produced by the rapid deceleration of electrons in a target material, typically a tungsten alloy, which produces an X-ray spectrum via bremsstrahlung radiation. The shape and intensity of the beam ...
Medical linacs use monoenergetic electron beams between 4 and 25 MeV, giving an X-ray output with a spectrum of energies up to and including the electron energy when the electrons are directed at a high-density (such as tungsten) target. The electrons or X-rays can be used to treat both benign and malignant disease.
An X-ray spectrograph consists of a high voltage power supply (50 kV or 100 kV), a broad band X-ray tube, usually with a tungsten anode and a beryllium window, a specimen holder, an analyzing crystal, a goniometer, and an X-ray detector device. These are arranged as shown in Fig. 1.