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

摘要

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 2 μm by scanning a knife-edge with an AXUV photo diode. The fluxes of soft X-rays at 516.7 eV (2.4 nm) were about 5.4×104 photons/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.