X-ray简要介绍

0 说明

本文主要内容是关于X-ray physics 的个人学习笔记，简单入门介绍。不少内容是博主自己的学习总结和看法，有不对的地方欢迎一起交流学习。

remark: 由于内容大致是小组presentation的演讲稿。所以大部分篇幅基本是英文，但是都是比较简单的英文，当然没有阅读里故意难住考生的长难句，有兴趣的jmm还有xdm希望能有耐心阅读。

1 History

The history of medical technology has been shaped by groundbreaking innovations. 125 years ago wihelm conradrenkin discovered x-rays and changed the world. just a short time later, the engineers developed the first x-ray tubes specifically designed for medical use. their quality was recognized by renkin himself. it took fifteen minutes for renkin to capture the world famous first shot of his wife’s hand. With our innovations we were able to capture more and more details of the body continuously with lower radiation doses and shorten examination times to enable precision medicine and human care. In 2005, we launched the world’s first computed tomography scanner with two X-ray tubes.Today based on the image processing data, we can create three -dimensional photo realistic image from inside the body.

fig1. 第一张X-ray图片

fig2. 第一个X-ray tube

2 Production

2.1 X-ray tube 的主要构件

从上面的图片可以看到，X-ray tube主要包括的构件，下面对每一个构件的作用进行说明。

cathode filament:
There is filament of metal with negatively charged where electrons accumulate on it. once filament is heated, electrons are boiled off. This process is called thermionic emission.

high-voltage power supply:
在阴极和阳极之间提供高压电源。Its purpose is to accelerate the electrons.

vacuum chamber ：
What I have to mention here is that the vacuum chamber can ensure that high-speed electrons hit the anode as straightly as possible without deflection or loss of energy due to scattering.

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中间打断一下，这里面最重要的一步是，如何从电子的动能转化为x-ray 光子。高速的电子从阴极射向阳极，在阳极上速度会急速下降，在这个过程中电子的动能会转化成x-ray 光子和热能。具体是怎么发生这个反应的是怎么进行转换的，这个过程并不简单，后面会单独进行介绍。这里必须注意的一点的是：阳极是在不停的旋转的，电子没次轰击anode的位置都是不一样的。

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Lead shielding：
Contain stray electrons and x-ray photons.there may be some electrons scattered by residual air molecule and x-ray photons scattered by glass molecule.

filter
help to absorb low energy photons, Only high-energy photons emitted. the reason is that low energy photons get absorbed in soft tissue lead to higher dose but no useful contribution.

2.2 Interaction of incident electron

这里说明的就是上一部分我提到的，X-ray光子怎么产生的问题。即 incident electron在anode上是怎样的interaction.

根据高速电子在anode上与金属原子的不同部分的Interaction的不同，会产生两种不同的X-ray光子，即characteristic X-ray 和bremsstrahlung.

2.2.1 characteristic X-ray

Generation of a characteristic x-ray in a target atom occurs in the following sequence: (1) The incident electron interacts with the K-shell electron via a repulsive electrical force. (2) The K-shell electron is removed (only if the energy of the incident electron is greater than the K-shell binding energy), leaving a vacancy in the K-shell. (3) An electron from the adjacent L-shell (or possibly a different shell) fills the vacancy. (4) A Ka characteristic x-ray photon is emitted with energy equal to the difference between the binding energies of the two shells.

2.2.2 bremsstrahlung

Bremsstrahlung radiation arises from energetic electron interactions with an atomic nucleus of the target material. In a “close” approach, the positive nucleus attracts the negative electron, causing deceleration and redirection, resulting in a loss of kinetic energy that is converted to an x-ray. The x-ray energy depends on the interaction distance between the electron and the nucleus; it decreases as the distance increases. This figure shows x-ray photons of different energy levels. If the photon stops directly inside the atom, the energy of the generated x-ray photon reaches the maximum. If the electron is far away from the nucleus, it will produce low-energy photons.

2.2.3 energy spectrum

The figure over there is about the energy spectrum of a beam emitted from an X-ray tube. The very low energies are absorbed by the tube itself. Characteristic lines are seen as sharp lines, superimposed upon a broad energy distribution from general radiation.

Characteristic lines的两个峰值，是由于不同原子壳层之间的能量差是不一样的，例如，L-shell补充K-shell的空位，和M-shell补充L-shell的空位，这两种能量差就不同，形成了两个峰值。

在X-ray最大值时，是Bremsstrahlung radiation，incident electron 直接停在了原子内，这时候将会有X-ray photon能量会达到最大。

3 Interaction with matter

X-ray穿透人体或者小动物时，在体内会发生多种Interaction。这里主要写到了三种Interaction。

3.1 光电效应

A photoelectric interaction between an incident X-ray and tissue involves an inner electron being emitted (left), an electron from an outer shell filling the hole in the inner shell (middle), and the difference in the binding energies being transferred to a characteristic X-ray. This X-ray has very low energy and is absorbed after travelling ~1 millimeter in tissue.

3.2 Compton scattering

• 基本介绍
  As for the interaction with matter, Compton scattering occurs when the incoming photon interacts with an outer shell electron.Compton scattering can be simply explained as the collision of photons with electrons, and the electrons gain part of their energy and leave the original orbit to become free electrons, while the energy of the scattered photons decreases. and it has a different direction. That is why we call it scatter. A x-ray photon in with an electron and a scattered photon out.
  
• fomula
  发生康普顿散射是，能量会减少，相对应的波长会变长，以下是波长变化以及能量变化的公式。
  
  
• The characteristics and effects of Compton scattering:

1. Occurs at all energy levels
2. Predominate at high energies
3. Increase patient dose
4. Increase bystander dose
5. Decrease image contrast

Compton scattering is the most common, but the least desirable photon interaction. Remember that Compton scattering does results in ionization. So this free electron that gets created crashes through the surrounding tissues and cells that results in biological damage in the body. The scattered photo can also be absorbed in the patient’s tissues which causes even more harm and more dose. Compton scatter also has a negative effect on the bystander dose such as the radiographer. Moreover,Compton scattering ,of course scattering, which in turn decreases the image contrast.

The combination of photoelectric effect and transmission creates what would otherwise be a high contrast, high quality image, what we mean by this is there’s clearly visible differences in the shades of gray. Compton scattering and really any kind of scattering adds meaningless noise to the image.

4 detector

remark: 这一部分和下一部分的imaging application可以不看。因为这两部分我也没仔细研究，也没啥内容，但是为了文章的完整性，我还是放上来了，可能有强迫症叭，我是一个没有感情的搬运工。【囧😳】

• Traditional X-ray film
• Digital detector
  • Advantages
    • Higher quality image
    • Store and transfer easily
  • Types
    • Computed Radiography
    • Digital Radiography

Protective layer – protection of the phosphor layer
Phosphor or active layer (荧光层) – image acquisition
Reflective layer – improve the detection efficiency
Support Layer – provide strength for the imaging plate
Backing Layer – protect back of the cassette

5 Imaging Application

• Clinical applications
  • Projectional radiographs
  • Computed tomography
  • Fluoroscopy
  • Radiotherapy
  

6 写在后面的话

非常感谢各位jmm和xdm能看到这，本人研究生萌新，方向医学图像重建，欢迎有兴趣的朋友们一起交流学习。