Determination of the size of a radiation source by the method of calculation of diffraction patterns

Abstract

In traditional X-ray radiography, which has been used for various purposes since the discovery of X-ray radiation, the shadow image of an object under study is constructed based on the difference in the absorption of the X-ray radiation by different parts of the object. The main method that ensures a high spatial resolution is the method of point projection X-ray radiography, i.e., radiography from a point and bright radiation source. For projection radiography, the small size of the source is the most important characteristic of the source, which mainly determines the spatial resolution of the method. In this work, as a point source of soft X-ray radiation for radiography with a high spatial and temporal resolution, radiation from a hot spot of X-pinches is used. The size of the radiation source in different setups and configurations can be different. For four different high-current generators, we have calculated the sizes of sources of soft X-ray radiation from X-ray patterns of corresponding objects using Fresnel-Kirchhoff integrals. Our calculations show that the size of the source is in the range 0.7–2.8 μm. The method of the determination of the size of a radiation source from calculations of Fresnel-Kirchhoff integrals makes it possible to determine the size with an accuracy that exceeds the diffraction limit, which frequently restricts the resolution of standard methods.