Professional Documents
Culture Documents
X Rays
X Rays
X-Rays
Contents
• Uses
• Production of X-Rays
• Brehmsstrahlung radiation
• Characteristic radiation
• The X-ray tube
• Rotating anode
• Intensifying screen
• Barium Meal
• Barium Enema
X-Rays are:-
• high frequency, high energy
electromagnetic rays.
• undetectable by the human senses
• very penetrating
• low localised ionization.
• generated when high energy electrons
struck a metal target
Uses:
• Imaging for detection of broken bones or tumors:
– simple X-ray,
– CT scanning,
– barium meal scanning.
• High energy rays for treatment of cancer
(destroying cells) - radiotherapy
• As incident beams in 'material characterization
technologies' (ways of finding out the properties
of materials), such as X-ray Diffraction, X-ray
Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Auger Electron
Spectroscopy.
From the syllabus:-
• Physical principles of the production
of X-rays:
– rotating-anode X-ray tube;
– methods of controlling the beam
intensity,
– the photon energy,
– the image sharpness and contrast and
– the patient dose
Production of X-rays
• X-rays are generated when high energy electrons
struck a metal target .
• The kinetic energy of the electron is transformed
into electromagnetic energy.
• Two kinds of x-rays are generated during this
process.
– Brehmsstrahlung radiation, also called "braking
radiation" or white x-rays is produced due to
electron deceleration.
– Characteristic x-rays are also produced when
electrons in target metal make transitions
between atomic energy levels.
Brehmsstrahlung radiation
• Bremsstrahlung is the
German word for
'slowing down' or
'braking', and here it is
used to describe the
radiation which is
emitted when electrons
are decelerated or
"braked" when they are
fired at a metal target.
Brehmsstrahlung radiation
• Accelerated charges
give off
electromagnetic
radiation, and when the
energy of the
bombarding electrons
is high enough, that
radiation is in the x-
ray region of the
electromagnetic
spectrum.
Brehmsstrahlung radiation
• It is characterized by a
continuous distribution
of radiation called
continuous x-ray
spectrum which
becomes more intense
and shifts toward
higher frequencies
when the energy of the
bombarding electrons is
increased.
Brehmsstrahlung radiation
• A projectile electron can lose any amount
of its kinetic energy in an interaction
with the nucleus of a target atom.
• So the bremsstrahlung radiation
associated with the loss can take on a
corresponding range of values.
• For example, an electron with kinetic
energy of 70 keV can lose all, none, or
any intermediate level of that kinetic
energy in a bremsstrahlung interaction.
Brehmsstrahlung radiation
• The Bremsstrahlung X-ray produced can
have an energy in the range of 0 to 70
keV.
• Here, 70 keV is the energy that
corresponds to the cut off wavelength
(smallest wavelength - highest frequency
therefore the highest possible energy -
use E=hf=hc/ to calculate it). This is
different from the production of
characteristic x-rays that have specific
energies.
Characteristic X-rays
• Characteristic X-rays are produced by
transitions of orbital electrons from
outer to inner shells.
• Bombarding electrons can release
electrons from inner energy level orbits.
• Higher electrons can then fall into the
vacancy and if the energy gap between
the levels is great enough X-rays will be
produced.
Characteristic X-rays
• Since the electron binding energy for every
element is different, the characteristic X-rays
produced in the various elements are also
different.
• This type of X-radiation is called
characteristic radiation because it has
precisely fixed, or discrete, energies and that
these energies are characteristic of the
differences between electron binding energies
of a particular element.
• The effective energy characteristic X-rays
increases with increasing atomic number of the
target element.
Characteristic X-rays
• The two sharp peaks
in the graph are
characteristic X-rays
which occur when
vacancies are
produced in K-shell of
the atom and
electrons drop down
from above to fill the
gap.
Characteristic X-rays
• The X-rays produced by
transitions from L to K levels
are called K-alpha x-rays,
and those from M to K
transition are called K-beta
x-rays.
• Transitions to the L-shell
are designated as L x-rays.
The graph also shows the
"brehmsstrahlung" radiation
which forms the base for
the two sharp peaks.
Example to calculate the
emitted x-ray energy:
For tungsten, K electrons have binding energies of
69.5 keV, and L electrons are bound by 12.1 keV.
A K-shell electron is removed from a tungsten
atom and is replaced by an L shell electron.
• Characteristics in the
same place (natch!!)
• area under the curve
increases
Graph of Intensity
against X-Ray photon
Action Effect energy
AC/DC voltage Electrons produced by graphs for both are the
thermionic emission only same except the DC one
accelerated across half is double the intensity
(AC necessary to get of the time! throughout (only
higher voltages - can use accelerated across to
transformers! DC target on half of the
acquired by electronic wave).
rectiication and
'smoothing' circuitry)
Action Effect Graph of Clarity of image
Intensity against
X-Ray photon
energy