radiationphysics-1

Radiation Physics
Dr. Deepak K. Gupta

Early x-ray machine. Arrow points to “live”
electrical wire.
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Atom (electrically neutral)
K-shell
protons
L-shell
neutrons
M-shell
electrons
Atomic Number (Z) = # of protons

Electrostatic Force
Attraction between protons and

electrons
Centrifugal Force
Pulls electrons away from

nucleus
EF CF
Balance between electrostatic force and

centrifugal force keeps electrons in orbit
around nucleus
Binding Energy
The amount of energy required to
remove an electron from its orbit (=
electrostatic force). Depends on
atomic number (Z) (# of protons).
Electromagnetic Radiation
The movement of energy through
space as a combination of electric and
magnetic fields
Travel at the speed of light

(3 x 108 meters/second)
(186,000 miles/second)
Electromagnetic Radiation
• X-ray • Visible light
• Gamma ray • TV waves
• Microwaves • Radio waves
W
F
Wavelength x Frequency = Speed of light
Electromagnetic Spectrum
radio tv visible x-rays gamma cosmic

light rays rays
ENERGY
Ability to penetrate
Shorter wavelength, higher energy
Higher frequency, higher energy
A
Highest energy
B
Shortest wavelength
Highest frequency
C
Highest energy?
X-ray Characteristics
Travel in straight line
Cannot be focused to a point
Differentially absorbed
Cause fluorescence
Harmful to living tissue
X-ray Characteristics
High energy waves
No mass
No charge (neutral)
Travel at speed of light
Invisible
X-Ray Machine
• Primary components of
an x-ray machine are
– X-ray tube
– Power supply
• X-ray tube is positioned
within the tube head,
along with some
components of the
power supply
X-ray Tube head
X-RAY TUBE
• Composed of a
cathode and an anode
situated within an
evacuated glass
envelope or tube.
• Electron emits from
cathode to a target in
the anode - produce x
rays
X-RAY TUBE : Cathode
• consists of a filament and a focusing cup
• Filament
– source of electrons
– coil of tungsten wire about 2 mm in diameter and 1
cm or less in length
– It is mounted on two stiff wires
– heated to incandescence by the flow of current from
the low-voltage source
– emits electrons at a rate proportional to the
temperature of the filament.
X-RAY TUBE : Focusing cup
• Negatively charged concave reflector made of
molybdenum
• Parabolic shape - electrostatically focuses the
electrons into a narrow beam
• Directed at a small rectangular area on the
anode called the focal spot
• Electrons move in this direction
– repelled by the negatively charged cathode
– attracted to the positively charged anode
X-RAY TUBE
• Evacuated to prevent
– Collision of the fast-moving electrons with gas
molecules - significantly reduce their speed
– prevents oxidation, “ burnout, ” of the filament
X-RAY TUBE : Stationary Anode
• Consists of a tungsten target
embedded in a copper stem.
• Convert the kinetic energy of the
colliding electrons into x-ray
photons.
• Why Tungsten ?
– ideal target material
– high atomic number (74)
– High melting point – withstand high
temp.
– high thermal conductivity – readily
dissipate heat
– low vapor pressure at the working
temperatures – maintain vaccum
• Copper Stem
– Inefficient process: more than 99% of the electron
kinetic energy converted to heat
– readily dissipating its heat – good thermal
conductor
– Additionally insulating oil between the glass
envelope and the housing of the tube head
carries heat away from the copper stem
• Focal spot
– Area on the target to
which the focusing cup
directs the electrons
– Sharpness of a
radiographic image
inversely proportional to
area of focal spot.
– Heat generated per unit
target area increases
as area of focal spot
decreases.
• Focal spot – Line focus principle
– To take advantage of a small focal spot while
distributing the electrons over a larger area of the
target, the target is placed at an angle to the
electron beam
– This angle is called as the angle of truncation =
200
– Effective focal spot (1X1 mm) - smaller than the
actual focal spot size (1X3 mm)
X-RAY TUBE : Rotating Anode
• Tungsten target is in the form
of a beveled disk - rotates
when the tube is in operation
• strike successive areas of the
target
• Widening the focal spot by an
amount corresponding to the
circumference of the beveled
disk.
• distributing the heat over this
extended area.
• Focal spot is now called focal track
in rotating
anode machines
• So it can accept tube currents of
100 to 500 mA - 10 to 50 times of
stationary anode
• 3000 revolutions per minute
• Not used in intraoral dental x-ray
machines
• May be used in tomographic or
cephalometric units
• Always used in medical computed
tomography x-ray machines
– require high radiation output.
POWER SUPPLY
• Power supply is necessary to
– heat the cathode filament to generate electrons
– Establish a high-voltage potential between the anode and
cathode to accelerate the electrons toward the anode.
POWER SUPPLY
• It consist of two transformers i.e filament
transformer (3-5 V)and high voltage
transformer (65,000 to 1,00,000 volts)
• Lie within an electrically grounded metal
housing called the tube-head
• An electrical insulating material, usually oil,
surrounds the tube and transformers
POWER SUPPLY: Tube Current
• Flow of electrons through
the tube: filament -tube -
anode and then again back
to filament
• Transformer
– Devise used to either step-
up or step-down the
voltage.
– Two coils – primary and
secondary coil.
• X-ray production: two
circuits are used - Filament
and High voltage circuit
POWER SUPPLY: Filament circuit
• Reduces the voltage - about 10 volts
• Regulated by the filament current control
(mA selector)
• Regulates the filament temperature and thus
the number of electrons emitted - 10 mA.
• This is not the same as the current in the
filament circuit.
POWER SUPPLY: Tube Voltage
• Regulated by autotransformer
• High voltage is required between the anode and
cathode – give electrons sufficient energy to
generate X-rays
• Kilovolt peak (kVp) selector – adjusts the
autotransformer
• Boosts the peak voltage of the incoming line
current (110 – 220 V) up to 60,000 to 100,000 V
(60 to 100 kV)
• Energy: 60 to 100 keV - sufficient energy to
generate x rays
POWER SUPPLY
• The polarity of the A.C. current
alternates (60 Hz) so does the
polarity of the x-ray tube at the
same frequency.
• So X-ray is produced when only
filament is negative and target
is positive.
• In the other half there is no
production of X-rays.
• This half of the cycle is called
inverse voltage or reverse bias.
• Also X-rays production is maximum at the peak voltage in the
form of pulses
• So 60 pulses of x rays are generated each second, each having a
duration of 1/120 second.
• limits x-ray production to half the AC cycle and is called self-
rectified or half-wave rectified
POWER SUPPLY
• Some dental x-ray manufacturers
produce machines that replace the
conventional half-wave rectified
power supply with a full-wave
rectified.
• This results in an essentially
constant potential between the
anode and cathode.
• Mean energy of the x-ray beam
produced is comparatively higher
when operated at the same voltage.
• The images resulting from these
machines have a longer contrast
scale and the patient receives a
lower dose
TIMER
• A timer is built into the high-voltage
circuit to control the duration of the x-
ray exposure.
• Subjecting the filament to continuous
heating at normal operating current
shortens its life.
• To minimize filament damage,
– the timer first sends a current through
the filament for about half a second
– then applies power to the high-voltage
circuit
• In some circuit designs, a continuous
low-level current passing through the
filament maintains it at a safe low
temperature
– shortening the delay to preheat the
filament
TUBE RATING
• X-ray tubes produce heat at the target while in operation.
• Measured in heat units (HU), where
HU = kVp × mA × seconds
• Dental diagnostic tubes is approximately 20 kHU.
• Heat is removed from the target by
• conduction to the copper anode and
• then to the surrounding oil and tube housing and by convection to the
atmosphere.
• Tube rating: describe the longest exposure time the tube
can be energized for a range of voltages (kVp) and tube
current (mA) values without risk of damage to the target
from overheating.
• Do not impose any restrictions on tube use for intraoral
radiography – concern for extraoral exposures
DUTY CYCLE
• Relates to the frequency with which
successive exposures can be made.
• The interval between successive exposures
must be long enough for heat dissipation.
• This is a function of the size of the
anode and the method used to cool it
Production of X Rays
• Most high-speed electrons traveling from the
filament to the target interact with target
electrons and release their energy as heat.
• Occasionally, however, electrons convert their
kinetic energy into x-ray photons by the
formation of
– Bremsstrahlung radiation
– Characteristic radiation
BREMSSTRAHLUNG RADIATION
• Bremsstrahlung means “braking radiation ” in German.
• Sudden stopping or slowing of high-speed electrons by
tungsten nuclei in the target.
• Primary source of radiation.
• Occasionally electrons from the filament directly hit
the nucleus of a target atom
• All the kinetic energy of the electron is transformed
into a single x-ray photon.
• Energy of the resultant photon (in keV) is thus
numerically equal to the energy of the electron -
voltage applied across the x-ray tube at that instant
• More frequently, high-speed electrons have near or
wide misses with atomic nuclei.
• Electron is attracted toward the positively charged
nuclei,
• Its path is altered towards the nucleus, and it loses
some of its velocity.
• This deceleration causes the electron to lose kinetic
energy that is given off in the form
of many new photons.
• The closer the high-speed electron approaches the
nuclei, the greater is the electrostatic attraction
between the nucleus and the electron
• The energy of an
x-ray beam is
usually described
by identifying the
peak operating
voltage (in kVp)
• Bremsstrahlung interactions generate x-ray
photons with a continuous spectrum of energy
– continuously varying voltage difference between the
target and filament,
– bombarding electrons pass at varying distances
around tungsten nuclei and are thus deflected to
varying extent
– Many electrons participate in many bremsstrahlung
interactions in the target before losing all their kinetic
energy
CHARACTERISTIC RADIATION
• Contributes only a small fraction of the photons in an x-ray
beam.
• when an incident electron ejects an inner electron from the
tungsten target.
• An electron from an outer orbital is quickly attracted to the
void in the deficient inner orbital.
• When the outer-orbital electron replaces the displaced
electron, a photon is emitted with an energy equivalent to
the difference in the two orbital binding energies
• The energies of characteristic photons are discrete because
they represent the difference of the energy levels of
electron orbital levels
• Hence are characteristic of the target atoms.
CHARACTERISTIC RADIATION
Factors Controlling the X-Ray Beam
• An x-ray beam may be modified by altering
the beam
– Exposure duration (timer),
– Exposure rate (mA),
– Energy (kVp and filtration),
– Shape (collimation)
– Intensity (target-patient distance)
EXPOSURE TIME
• Duration of the
exposure and thus
the number of
photons generated
• Exposure time is
directly proportional
to number of
photons generated at
all energies.
TUBE CURRENT (mA)
• Quantity of radiation
produced by an x-ray tube -
directly proportional to the
tube current (mA) and the
time the tube is operated.
• quantity of radiation
produced is expressed
as the product of time and
tube current.
• Beam quantity or beam
intensity refers to the
number of photons
TUBE VOLTAGE (kVp)
• Tube voltage is directly proportional to the energy
of each electron which strikes the anode target.
• Thus there is increased efficiency of conversion of
electron energy into x-ray photons and there is
increase in
– number of photons generated,
– their mean energy, and
– their maximal energy
Half-value layer (HVL)
• Thickness of an absorber, such as aluminum,
required to reduce by one half the number of
x-ray photons passing through it.
• Beam quality refers to the mean energy of an
x-ray beam.
FILTRATION
• X-ray beam consists of a spectrum of x-ray
photons of different energies.
• Energy of photons should be sufficiently high to
penetrate through anatomic structures and reach
the image receptor.
• Low energy photons cannot reach the receptor
and contribute to patient exposure (risk) without
any benefit.
– These low-energy photons should be removed from
the beam - FILTERATION
FILTRATION
• Two types of filtration
• Inherent filtration
– primary beam passes through the glass window of the X-
ray tube, the insulating oil and the tube head seal.
– approximately equivalent to 0.5 to 1 mm of aluminum
• Added filtration
– placement of aluminum disks in the path of the X-ray
beam.
– Aluminum disks may be added in 0.5 mm increments
• Total filtration = inherent + added filtration.
• 1.5 mm of aluminum up to 70 kVp
• 2.5 mm of aluminum for all higher voltages
COLLIMATION
• Metallic barrier (usually lead) with an aperture in the
middle used to reduce the size of the x-ray beam and
thereby the volume of irradiated tissue.
• They are of two types
– Fixed (dental X-ray machine)
– Adjustable
• Again on the basis of shape, its either round or
rectangular.
COLLIMATION
• Round collimator
– circle 7 cm in diameter
– thick plate of radiopaque
material (usually lead)
– circular opening centered over
the port
– Increased radiation exposure
• Rectangular
– just larger than the x-ray film –
size 2 intraoral
– Specifically requires film-
holding instruments
COLLIMATION
• Improves image quality – reduces scattered
photons (Compton scattering).
• reduces the exposure area and thus the
number of scattered photons reaching the
film
Intensity
• Target-patient distance
• Intensity of an x-ray beam: the number of
photons per cross-sectional area per unit of
exposure time
• It is inversely proportional to the square of
the distance from the source.
Interactions of X-Rays with Matter
• In dental imaging the x-ray beam
– enters the face of a patient,
– Interacts with hard and soft tissues, and then
– strikes a digital sensor or film.
• As the beam goes through the patient, it is
attenuated (reduced in intensity)
• The x-ray photons are either
• Absorbed
• Scattered out of the beam or
• No interaction (9%)
Interactions of X-Rays with Matter
• Due to this interactions.
– Incident beam striking the patient is spatially
homogenous
– And the remnant beam, the beam that exits the
patient, is spatially heterogeneous.
• These differential exposure of the film allows a
radiograph to reveal the morphologic features of
enamel, dentin, bone, and soft tissues.
• Three means of beam attenuation:
• Coherent scattering
• Photoelectric absorption
• Compton scattering
COHERENT SCATTERING
• Classical, elastic, or Thompson scattering.
• When a low-energy incident photon (less than
10 keV) passes near an outer electron –
momentarily excites the electron at same
frequency.
• Excited electron then returns to the ground
state and generates another x-ray photon with
the same frequency (energy).
COHERENT SCATTERING
COHERENT SCATTERING
• Secondary photon is emitted at an angle to the
path of the incident photon.
• Direction of the incident x-ray photon is altered.
• Accounts for only about 7% of the total number
of interactions
• Little to film fog because the number of scattered
photons is small
• Their energy is too low for many of them to reach
the film or sensor
PHOTOELECTRIC ABSORPTION
• when an incident photon interacts with an electron in
an inner orbital of an atom of the absorbing medium.
• photon ejects the electron from its orbital and it
becomes a recoil electron
• Kinetic energy (recoil electron) = energy of the incident
photon - the binding energy (BE) of the electron
• In the case of atoms with low atomic numbers (e.g.,
those in most biologic molecules), the BE is small and
the recoil electron acquires most of the energy of the
incident photon.
• About 23% of interactions
• electron deficiency is instantly filled by higher
level electron - release of characteristic radiation.
• frequency of photoelectric interaction varies
directly with the third power of the atomic
number of the absorber
• Effective atomic number of compact bone (Z =
13.8) is greater than that of soft tissue (Z =
7.4)
• probability that a photon will be absorbed by
a photoelectric interaction in bone is
approximately 6.5 times
• This difference is readily seen on dental
radiographs as a difference in optical density
of the image.
COMPTON SCATTERING
• 49% of interactions
• incident photon collides with an outer electron,
which receives kinetic energy and recoils from
the point of impact
• The path of the incident photon is deflected by
this interaction.
• The energy of the scattered photon equals the
energy of the incident photon minus the sum of
the kinetic energy gained by the recoil electron
and its binding energy.
COMPTON SCATTERING
• Scattered photons
continue on their new
paths, causing further
ionizations.
• Probability of a Compton
interaction is directly
proportional to the
electron density of the
absorber
• The number of electrons
in bone (5.55 × 1023/cc)
is greater than in soft
tissue (3.34 × 1023/cc).
• Darken and degrade the
image while carrying no
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Radiation Physics

Dr. Deepak K. Gupta

Atomic Number (Z) = # of protons

Attraction between protons and

Pulls electrons away from

Balance between electrostatic force and

Travel at the speed of light

• Gamma ray • TV waves

• Microwaves • Radio waves

radio tv visible x-rays gamma cosmic

Shorter wavelength, higher energy

Higher frequency, higher energy

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