X-ray production in different anode geometries: Theoretical and Monte Carlo simulation approaches

GESER, FEDERICO ALEJANDRO; VALENTE, MAURO; FIGUEROA, RODOLFO; MALANO, FRANCISCO; SANTIBAÑEZ, MAURICIO

Santo Domingo

Simposio; XVII International Symposium on Solid State Dosimetry; 2017

Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo

X-rays are commonly used for a wide variety of purposes, from material characterization to medical applications. The traditional scheme for X-ray production is based on the well known X-ray tube, an evolution in technology started from the experiments performed by Crookes and finally by X-rays discovery by W. Röntgen in 1895. As known, X-ray tubesare mainly based on the impact of accelerated electron onto high atomic number anodes in order to produce photons by means of Bremsstrahlung and characteristic X-rays. However, spectral and angular distributions of produced photons may not be strictly improved, or even worst, not adequate for specific applications. Actually, one of the main properties oftraditional X-ray tubes regards its geometrical divergence, which  necessary produces fluence reduction along beam trajectory. This inherent characteristic represents a strong limitation when high concentrated fluence is required, as happens in convergent techniques. This work presents investigations about the effects of the different anode properties in combination with electron beam incidence in order to assess convenient X-ray tube designs to produce X-rays with different purposes, mainly focused on applications requiring photon fluence concentration. Dedicated Monte Carlo subroutines (PENELOPE and FLUKA)were developed aimed at describing interaction processes and X-ray production accordingto different combination of electron beam incidence and anode physical/geometrical properties. The obtained results confirm that suitable designs are capable of improving photon fluence at certain regions according to specific requirements.