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Groundbreaking Laser-Driven X-Ray Generation Technology to Advance Diagnostic Imaging

By MedImaging International staff writers
Posted on 30 Dec 2021

Image: Laser Plasma X-ray Source (Photo courtesy of Research Instruments Corporation)

A new groundbreaking technology that uses ultrafast lasers to generate ultrabrilliant pulsed X-rays could accelerate research and advance diagnostic imaging.

Research Instruments Corporation (Providence, RI, USA) has been named a 2022 Prism Awards Finalist for its Laser Plasma X-ray Source LPXS that uses ultrafast lasers to generate ultrabrilliant pulsed X-rays to accelerate research and advance diagnostic imaging.

"Wilhelm Roentgen's Nobel Prize-winning X-ray invention hasn't changed significantly in more than a century," said Dr. Christoph Rose-Petruck, Ph.D., co-inventor and Chief Science Officer. "Today we usher in a new age of X-ray generation by turning a laser-induced plasma into a very large X-ray flux emitted from a microscopic spot to deliver ultra-brilliant picosecond pulsed X-rays beyond conventional X-ray tube limits."

"Our novel Laser Plasma X-ray Source will bring life-saving ultra-high-resolution capabilities to diagnostic imaging. Our Phase Contrast Imaging technique can achieve more than a 20X resolution improvement in X-ray mammography with 95% less X-ray radiation. Beyond medical devices, we can address a vast research and industrial application landscape, including enabling time-resolved experiments such as turbulent flow analysis and protein folding experiments that were previously in the sole domain of large user facilities such as synchrotrons."

"X-ray sources have been the backbone of analytical instruments and medical devices solving fundamental problems for more than one hundred years," said Daniel DeCiccio, Chief Technology Officer. "We overcome limitations of X-ray tubes that either had high X-ray power with poor spatial resolution, or provided adequate spatial resolution, but with very little X-ray power. Now, thanks to ultrafast industrial lasers, we can deliver higher X-ray power, excellent spatial resolution, and ultrashort X-ray pulses all from a compact bench-scale X-ray source," he said.

"Our laser-driven X-ray platform brings new capabilities to the global X-ray application arena expected to exceed USD 100 billion by 2026, spanning diagnostic imaging, industrial testing, quality control, security, materials research, life sciences, and more," said Keith Bisogno, Chief Business Officer.

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