COMPACT HIGH VOLTAGE X-RAY SOURCE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR X-RAY INSPECTION APPLICATIONS

摘要

An x-ray system is disclosed that includes a bipolar x-ray tube (50). The bipolar x-ray tube includes two insulators (58,60) that are separated by an intermediate electrode (56) in an embodiment, wherein each insulator forms a portion of an outer wall of a vacuum envelope of the bipolar x-ray tube surrounding at least a portion of a path (76) of an electron beam within the vacuum envelope. In further embodiments, the bipolar x-ray tube includes a first electrode (54) at a positive high voltage potential with respect to a reference potential, a second electrode (56) at a negative high voltage potential with respect to the reference potential, and an x-ray transmissive window (88) that is at the positive high voltage potential.