Advancements in X-Ray Technology

We have used X-Rays as a medical imaging technique since approximately 1895 when Wilhelm Roentgen concluded that he could make images of body structures like tissues and bones by passing electromagnetic waves through the body. He named the phenomenon X because he did not initially understand the composition of the rays. From that time forward, X-Rays have been the building block upon which medical imaging technology and medical imaging equipment have been created.

Although the X-Ray has long been an essential medical imaging tool, this approach has always had the drawback that the images produced are not exact, which makes it so it requires extremely careful study and interpretation. Scientists have long searched for a way to enhance the quality of radiographic images.

Recent breakthroughs in the growth of laser X-Ray's have led to advancements that have the capability to fully change the quality of radiographic images. The light distributed by a laser would be bright enough to create strong, distinct contrasts on radiographic images. Also, grouping the power of a laser beam with X-Rays can produce better resolution by a factor of around one thousand. Medical imaging at this level of resolution could provide the technology to detect cancers and other abnormalities that cannot now be detected with current X-Ray technology.

Up until the last few years, the power source needed to make the perfect strength laser beam for this invention was so enormous that it was unrealistic to even try. However, researchers at the University of Colorado in Boulder have created a way to generate mighty laser beams from a reasonably sized power source. This makes laser X-Ray technology a practical reality.

The team that is researching this used a laser beam to set forth atoms from argon. Argon is a stable chemical element. The ejection of X-Rays was not strong enough to be of use. The research team then threw the atoms back into the argon, causing a larger, more compatible stream of X-Rays of big enough size to be useful to be emitted. This boomerang method is now being handled to make a regular, very mighty source of X-Rays, grouped with laser beams.

The method isnt prepared to be used in the clinical setting. Further research is necessary to extend the method into the hard X-Ray area of the electromagnetic spectrum. Once that task has been accomplished, the commercial laser X-Ray will come next.