Influence of backscattered electrons on X-ray tube output

摘要

When energetic electrons are incident on medium-to-high Atomic Number absorbers a substantial fraction are backscattered. This phenomenon is responsible for several undesirable effects in X-ray tubes, in particular for a reduction in the X-ray output. The extent of this shortfall has been estimated by using Monte Carlo simulation by starting electrons at increasing depth inside the anode. The results indicate that output enhancements of nearly 50% could be achieved in principle if the electrons wasted in backscatter events could be trapped inside the anode. To test out this idea a further set of simulations were done by considering a novel anode geometry. Results showed that X-ray tube efficiencies might be substantially enhanced by this approach.