Augmentation method and experimental study of the hard x-ray radiation field based on Compton scattering

Hard x-rays generated by bremsstrahlung from low-energy electrons have a wide distribution of emission angles, which inherently limits radiation utilization efficiency. This study proposes a Compton-scattering-based augmentation technique that increases utilization efficiency by partially scattering laterally escaping photons into the detection region and reducing their average energy. The augmentation characteristics of various Compton scattering layer (CSL) materials and geometries were analyzed theoretically, validated numerically, and used to establish a practical selection method for CSL design. A graphite CSL tailored for a cylindrical virtual-cathode reflex triode array was developed and experimentally tested. The experimental data show a 13.9% increase in radiation utilization efficiency—consistent with the 13.5% predicted by simulation—and a 28.4% increase in uniform-dose area.