MetalJet X-ray source (HiBriX Lab)

Excillum MetalJet is a novel technology for the production of X-rays: the use of a liquid anode, instead of a conventional solid one, allows to generate a high-brightness microspot X-ray beam. The MetalJet X-ray source, owned by University of Turin-Physics Department, is located at the High-Brilliance X-ray Laboratory (HiBriX Lab), hosted at the NIS Inter-departmental research Centre.
The machine is a MetalJet D2+ with a working voltage from 21 kV to 160 kV and an electronic current up to 4.3 mA, able to deliver a maximum power of 250 W over a microfocus spot size (minimum possible size is about 10 µm). The instrument is customised with a dual port X-ray window: a 13°-wide beam for the microbeam line and a 30°-wide beam for the imaging line. Different detectors, focusing optics and components have been integrated, also developing specifically dedicated software for system control.
Therefore, at the HiBriX Lab we can cover several applications such as:

  • material characterisation via µXRD and µXRF maps;
  • investigation of detector performances (charge collection efficiency and damage effects);
  • single cell level radiobiology;
  • X-ray imaging (radiography and tomography) of objects having a wide size range (from sub-mm to few tenths of cm).
The laboratory constantly evolves following research’s needs and aims to represent a unique laboratory in Italy, with a handful of comparable examples in the world.
The HiBriX Lab has been funded by