A model of parametric X-ray radiation for application to diagnostic radiology

Parametric X-ray Radiation (PXR) is well known as an intense, tunable and quasi-monochromatic X-ray source. From the very first work of TerMikaelian, who proposed the interaction phenomenon for Parametric X-rays many theoretical and experimental studies have investigated the characteristics of such a novel X-ray source. Within the framework of classical electrodynamics, we have thoroughly studied the physical implications of electrons moving through a medium at relativistic speed and then developed an analytical model of X-ray diffraction based on the PXR phenomenon. The model has been used to obtain information on the characteristics of PXR diffracted beam in terms of X-ray intensity, energy spectrum and angular distribution. Several crystals have been studied both in Bragg and Laue geometry and their relative yield has been compared. Preliminary results on the diagnostic potential of PXR have shown that, at a distance from the crystal which produces a size of the X-ray field useful for an imaging application, the photon yield of PXR is higher than that produced by a conventional X-ray tube, provided that a similar electron current is available.