Development of a soft X-ray microprobe for single cell radiobiology

• Published in: Nuclear science and techniques 2009-04, Vol.20 (2), p.82-86
• Main Author: CHEN Liang YAN Jingwen JIANG Shiping YU Yang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: X射线微探针; 光电二极管; 单细胞; 同步辐射; 放射生物学; 照射剂量; 软X射线源; 辐射生物学效应
• ISSN: 1001-8042; 2210-3147

An X-ray microprobe for radiobiological studies was developed which deliver precise doses of radiation to the selected individual cells. The facility used synchrotron radiation as soft X-ray source. A zone plate combining with a pinhole produced a fine probe from bending magnet for single cell irradiating with defined doses. The diameter of microprobe at the target position was about 2μm by scanning a knife-edge with an AXUV photo diode. The fluxes of soft X-rays at 516.7eV （2.4nm） were about 5.4×10^4photons/s.100mA measured with the photo diode. The absorbed dose rate for typical yeast cells was about 11.34 Gy/s with the storage current of 100 mA. A preliminary experiment for yeast cells irradiation has shown that the microprobe had a definite biological effect for radiobiological investigations. The soft X-ray microprobe at “water window” region has provided a useful tool for single cell irradiating damage and a capability of individually irradiating a certain numbers of cells each time.