A liquid cathode for medical imaging X-ray sources

用于医学成像 X 射线源的液体阴极

• 批准号: 10756654
• 负责人: PAUL R SCHWOEBEL
• 金额: $ 18.72万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-02-01 至 2025-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10756654
• 关键词: 3-Dimensional; Agreement; Anodes; Applications Grants; California; Cathodes; Characteristics; Clinical; Data; Development; Electrons; Elements; Excision; Failure; Federal Government; Filament; Future; Health; Housing; Human; Image; Imaging technology; Industry; International; Investments; Life; Liquid substance; Measures; Mechanics; Medical; Medical Imaging; Medical center; Metals; Motion; Performance; Persons; Reproducibility; Research; Resolution; Roentgen Rays; Rotation; Sampling; Site; Source; Speed; Spottings; Surface; System; Systems Development; Technology; Time; Transducers; Translations; Tungsten; Universities; Vacuum; X-Ray Medical Imaging; X-Ray Tomography; clinical application; cost; design; experimental study; healing; imaging detector; imaging modality; imaging system; improved; novel strategies; technology development; tomography; tomosynthesis; vibration

PROJECT SUMMARY It is generally agreed that the development of distributed X-ray sources (i.e., systems having multiple X-ray sources contained within a single vacuum envelope) could fundamentally improve tomographic medical X-ray imaging technology by removing the need for mechanical motion of the X-ray source. Removing such motion provides the potential to develop more compact, higher-speed, and lower-cost X-ray imaging systems with better image quality, new imaging modalities, and more widespread system availability. The net result would be to make imaging systems with greater capabilities more widely available to a larger number of people. A significant impediment to achieving this result has been the lack of an appropriate cathode (electron emitter) technology for the distributed X-ray source. This grant application proposes to explore a very different approach to cathodes for medical X-ray imaging sources: a liquid cathode. This unique cathode uses an electrohydrodynamic instability to form field electron emitting sites on the surface of a liquid metal with Faraday waves, induced by slight mechanical vibration of the fluid by a piezoelectric transducer. Because the cathode is a liquid, it is self-healing, which will mitigate failure mechanisms associated with field emission cathodes used to date, thereby resulting in high reliability and long life. By distributing the resulting compact electron source elements in space, the X-ray focal spot distribution can be changed, i.e., reconfigured electronically, in real time. This approach has the potential to shift the paradigm of medical X-ray imaging systems by combining a reliable, long-lived, and robust source with an electronically reconfigurable X-ray focal spot distribution. The specific aims of this proposal focus on experiments to determine whether the liquid cathode approach has the performance characteristics required for medical imaging applications. The aims are: Aim 1. Fabricate liquid cathode testbed Aim 2. Quantify electron emission characteristics of liquid cathode Aim 3. Quantify X-ray emission characteristics of liquid cathode-based source Aim 4. Develop preliminary liquid cathode-based designs for several widely used medical imaging applications

项目摘要 人们普遍认为，分布式X射线源的开发（即具有多个X射线的系统 单个真空信封中包含的源可以从根本上改善层析成像医学X射线 通过消除X射线源机械运动的需求，成像技术。删除这种动作 提供了使用具有更紧凑，更高速度和较低成本X射线成像系统的潜力 更好的图像质量，新的成像方式以及更广泛的系统可用性。最终结果将 使更大能力的成像系统更广泛地为更多人使用。一个 实现这一结果的重大障碍是缺乏适当的阴极（电子发射极） 分布式X射线源的技术。 该赠款申请建议探索用于医疗X射线成像的阴极的一种截然不同的方法 来源：液态阴极。这种独特的阴极使用电水力动力学不稳定来形成现场电子 在带有法拉第波的液态金属表面上发射位点，这是由轻微的机械振动引起的 通过压电传感器流体。因为阴极是液体，所以它是自我修复的，这将减轻故障 与现场排放阴极相关的机制，从而导致高可靠性和长期 生活。通过在空间中分发所得的紧凑型电子元素，X射线焦点分布 可以实时更改，即以电子方式重新配置。这种方法有可能改变 通过将可靠，长期且强大的来源与一个 电子可重新配置的X射线焦点分布。 该提案的具体目的侧重于实验，以确定液态阴极方法是否具有 医学成像应用所需的性能特征。目的是： AIM 1。制造液态阴极测试床 目标2。量化液态阴极的电子发射特性 AIM 3。量化基于液态阴极源的X射线发射特性 目标4。为几种广泛使用的医学成像应用开发初步的液态阴极设计