X-ray photons produced from a plasma-cathode electron beam for radiation biology applications

TL;DR

This paper introduces a compact, versatile X-ray source generated from a plasma-cathode electron beam, capable of delivering variable radiation doses for biological research, especially in radiation effects studies.

Contribution

It presents a novel low-energy, high-intensity X-ray source using laser-induced plasma and aluminum foil conversion, enabling adjustable dose rates for radiation biology applications.

Findings

X-ray dose can be tuned from 10 μGy to 10 mGy per shot.

The source is compact and suitable for diverse radiation biology experiments.

Dose delivery is controlled by foil thickness and diode voltage.

Abstract

A compact low-energy and high-intensity X-ray source for radiation biology applications is presented. A laser-induced plasma moves inside a 30 kV diode and produces a beam of 10$^{14}$ electrons at the anode location. An aluminum foil converts a part of the energy of these electrons into X-ray photons which are characterized using filtered imaging plates. The dose that would be deposited by these X-ray photons in C. elegans larvae is calculated from Geant4 simulations. It can be set to a value ranging between 10 $\mu$Gy and 10 mGy per laser shot by simply changing the aluminum foil thickness and the diode voltage. Therefore, this versatile and compact X-ray source opens a new path to explore the radiation effects induced by dose rates varying over several orders of magnitude.