Liquid-metal-jet x-ray tube technology and tomography applications

The power and brightness of electron-impact micro-focus X-ray sources have long been limited by thermal damage in the anode. Here we describe a novel X-ray microfocus source based on a new anode concept, the liquid-metal-jet anode (MetalJet). The regenerative nature of this anode allows for significantly higher e-beam power density than on conventional anodes, resulting in this source generating significantly higher brightness than other X-ray tubes in the microfocus regime (~5-50 μm). We describe the fundamental properties of the technology and will review the current status specifically in terms of spot size, stability, lifetime, flux, acceleration voltage and brightness.