• Question: @Chris please can you give me a scientific explanation of your job

    Asked by pippa to Chris on 18 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Chris Armstrong

      Chris Armstrong answered on 18 Jun 2015:

      Hi Pippa,
      I think you were in a chat of mine today…

      My research is mainly looking into the development of laser generated x-ray radiography for industrial applications.

      In order to explain better I’ll take you through the process. So to generate the x-rays in the first place I fire an incredibly powerful laser pulse at the back of a dense metal target, this excites electrons which rocket through the metal at near the speed of light. When these stop, by collisions or build up of charge they release bremsstrahlung radiation equal to the momentum they have lost in the collision (satisfying newton). My work involves optimizing the radiation emitted for each specific object that needs imaging.

      Currently I am looking at the source size of the emission as this the base limit on the smallest details we can resolve.

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