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Development of a Fingertip-sized Miniature X-ray Source Using a Laser-heated Pyroelectric Crystal

A pyroelectric crystal has spontaneous polarization and generates a high voltage of several tens of kilovolts between both ends of the crystal with a temperature change of several tens of degrees Celsius. When this pyroelectric crystal is set in a vacuum with a counter electrode, electrons can be ac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:E-journal of surface science and nanotechnology 2024/07/04, Vol.22(3), pp.236-240
Main Authors: Abo, Satoshi, Uezato, Takahiro, Takahashi, Michiaki, Wakaya, Fujio
Format: Article
Language:eng ; jpn
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Summary:A pyroelectric crystal has spontaneous polarization and generates a high voltage of several tens of kilovolts between both ends of the crystal with a temperature change of several tens of degrees Celsius. When this pyroelectric crystal is set in a vacuum with a counter electrode, electrons can be accelerated by this high voltage. Such a device can be used as an X-ray source without any external high-voltage sources. In this study, a thin copper foil was set at the end of a vacuum chamber as a target electrode and partitioned between the vacuum and atmosphere. The pyroelectric crystal was heated using infrared (IR) laser light. The X-ray was detected outside the vacuum chamber. The X-ray yield and the maximum energy during the laser irradiation cycle were higher than those during the natural cooling cycle. A transmission X-ray image of the lead foil sandwiched between aluminum foils was observed outside the vacuum chamber. In addition, a fingertip-sized miniature X-ray source using the IR laser light through an optical fiber was used to heat the pyroelectric crystal. The sizes of the fingertip-sized miniature X-ray source were 10 mm in outer diameter and 10 mm in length. The X-ray yield and the maximum energy during the laser irradiation cycle were less than those during the natural cooling cycle, which differed from the experimental results obtained using the vacuum chamber. This was due to fewer electrons in the fingertip-sized miniature X-ray source and insufficient recovery of the compensating charge on the crystal surface during the natural cooling cycle.
ISSN:1348-0391
1348-0391
DOI:10.1380/ejssnt.2024-021