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Resident Physics Lectures
• Christensen, Chapter 2C
Production of
X-Rays
George David
Associate Professor
Department of Radiology
Medical College of Georgia
The Atomic Nucleus
• Protons
+
+
+
+ Charges
# protons = atomic # (Z)
• Neutrons
~
~
 No charge ~
 Mass about the same as proton
Atomic Weight(mass)= # protons + # neutrons
*
kVp = kilovolts peak
• peak kilovoltage applied
across x-ray tube
• voltage applied across
x-ray tube pulses and
varies
kVp
Single Phase
 single phase
 three phase
kVp
Three Phase
keV = kilo-electron volt
• energy of an electron
• Kinetic energy
• Higher energy electron
moves faster
• Electrons can be
manipulated by electric
fields
 Accelerated
 Steered
+
Orbital Electrons
• Electrons
- charges
very small mass compared with protons /
neutrons
• Electrons reside only at certain
energy levels or Shells
Designations start at K shell
K shell closest to nucleus
L shell next closest
Shells proceed up from K, L, M, N, etc.
Except for K shell, all shells contain sub-shells
L
K
-
~ +
~ +
+ ~
-
Binding Energy
• energy required to remove orbital
electron from atom
• Negative electrons attracted to
positive nucleus
• more binding energy for shells
closer to nucleus
 K shell has highest binding force
• higher atomic # materials (higher Z)
result in more binding energy
 more positive charge in nucleus
L
K
~ +
~ +
+ ~
-
-
Electron Shells (cont.)
• Electrons can only reside in a
shell
 electron has exactly the energy associated with
its shell
 electrons attempt to reside in lowest available
energy shell
L
K
~ +
~ +
+ ~
-
-
The Shell Game
*
• Electrons can move from shell to
shell
• to move to higher energy shell
requires energy input equal to
difference between shells
L
K
~ +
~ +
+ ~
-
-
-
Requires
energy
input!
The Shell Game (cont.)
• to move to a lower energy shell
requires the release of energy
equal to the difference between
shells
 characteristic x-rays
L
K
~ +
~ +
+ ~
Energy
released -
-
X-Ray Production(cont.)
• X-Rays are
produced in the
x-ray tube by
two distinct
processes
 Characteristic
radiation
 Bremsstrahlung
Characteristic Radiation
• Occurs whenever electrons
drop into lower shell
• Inner shell has lower energy
state
• Energy difference between
shells emitted as
characteristic x-ray
 0-28% of total x-ray beam energy
L
K
~ +
~ +
+ ~
-
-
Characteristic Radiation
• High speed electron
from cathode slams
into target knocking
out inner shell orbital
electron
• orbital electron
removed from atom
• electrons from higher
energy shells cascade
down to fill vacancies
• Characteristic x-rays
emitted.
+
L
K
-
~ +
~ +
+ ~
-
-
Characteristic Radiation
• Consists only of discrete xray energies corresponding
to energy difference between
electron shells of target
• Specific energies are
characteristic of target
material
• for tungsten 59 keV
corresponds to the difference
in energy between K and L
shells
L
K
~ +
~ +
+ ~
-
-
Characteristic Radiation (cont.)
• threshold energy
required for incident
electron (from cathode)
to eject orbital electron =
electron’s binding
K
energy
-
L
~ +
~ +
+ ~
-
Bremsstrahlung
• interaction of moving electron with
nucleus of target atoms
• Positive nucleus causes moving
electron to change speed / direction
• Kinetic energy lost
• Emitted in form of Bremsstrahlung x-ray
L
K
~ +
~ +
+ ~
-
-
Bremsstrahlung (cont.)
• Bremsstrahlung means braking
radiation
• Moving electrons have many
Bremsstrahlung reactions
» small amount of energy lost with each
L
K
~ +
~ +
+ ~
-
-
Bremsstrahlung (cont.)
• Energy lost by moving electron is
random & depends on
 distance from nucleus
 charge (Z) of nucleus
• Bremsstrahlung Energy Spectrum
0 - peak kilovoltage (kVp) applied to x-ray tube
 most x-ray photons low energy
 lowest energy photons don’t escape tube
» easily filtered by tube enclosures or added filtration
Beam Intensity
• Product of
 # photons in beam
 energy per photon
• Units
 Roentgens (R) per unit time
 Measure of ionization rate of air
• Depends on
 kVp
 mA
 target material
 filtration
 waveform
Intensity & Target Material
• higher target atomic # results in
greater x-ray production efficiency
 higher positive charge of nucleus causes more
Bremsstrahlung
• discrete energies of characteristic
radiation determined by anode
material
 Energy differences between shells
 molybdenum used in mammo
» characteristic radiation of 17 & 19 keV
Intensity &
Technique
• beam intensity proportional to mA
• beam Intensity ~ proportional to kVp2
+
high
voltage
source
filament
voltage
source