User:Ulflund/X-ray tube
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An X-ray tube is a vacuum tube that converts electrical input power into X-rays.[1] In the vacuum of the X-ray tube, electrons are accelerated by a high-voltage electric field.[2] X-rays are produced when these electrons quickly decelerate as they strike a target material.[3] The X-ray tube is the core of an X-ray generator which typically also contains a high-voltage power supply, cooling system and other components required to generate X-rays in a safe way.[4]
Todo:
- Add sources
- Add section with details on the different components including subsections on
- cathodes, including filaments and crystals
- anodes, including common materials, cooling methods, take-off angles
- x-ray windows, common materials, filtering
- vacuum vessel, common materials
- electron optics (electrostatic vs. magnetic)
- Compare to other types of x-ray sources (synchrotrons, laser-based, XFELs, radionuclides)
- Line focus and heel effect
- High voltage on cathode, anode or both
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Rotating_anode_x-ray_tube_%28labeled%29.jpg/640px-Rotating_anode_x-ray_tube_%28labeled%29.jpg)
The X-ray tube is the most common source of X-rays for a wide range of applications including medical imaging[5], non-destructive testing[6], airport luggage scanners, X-ray crystallography[7], X-ray fluorescence[8], and many more. They vary in size and power from the few watt X-ray tubes[9] that are integrated in handheld X-ray fluorescence tools to the 100+ kW medical rotating-anode X-ray tubes[10] developed for high-performance computed tomography and angiography.