X-Rays have been in use as a medical imaging technique since approximately 1895 when Wilhelm Roentgen concluded that he could make pictures of internal bodily structures such as bones and tissues by putting electromagnetic waves through the body. He called the phenomenon �X� because he did not completely know what made up the �rays�. From that time forward, X-Rays have been the building block upon which medical imaging technology and medical imaging equipment have been constructed.
Although the X-Ray (or radiograph) has been a crutial tool for medical imaging, this approach has had the drawback that the pictures created 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 findings in the growth of laser X-Ray's have led to advancements that have the capability to completely change the quality of radiographic images. The light distributed by a laser would be very bright, so bright it could make distinct and strong contrasts on radiographic images. Moreover, coupling the candle power of a laser beam with X-Rays can produce better resolution by a factor of around one thousand. Medical imaging that could make the picture that much better might give us the resources to find abnormalities and cancers that you can not detect right now with our technology.
Up until recently, the amount of power needed to make the right strength laser beam for this invention was so large that it was impractical to even try. However, researchers at the University of Colorado in Boulder have created a method to make strong laser beams from a reasonably sized power source. This makes laser X-Ray technology a practical reality.
The research team used a laser beam to send out atoms from argon. Argon is a stable chemical element. The resulting radiation of X-Rays was too weak to be useful. The group then shot the atoms right back at the argon which made a bigger, more consistent stream of X-Rays of sufficient size to be useful to be emitted. This �boomerang� method is now being manipulated to generate a highly regular, very strong source of X-Rays, coupled with laser beams.
The method is not yet prepared to be used in the clinical setting. Further research is necessary to extend the method into the hard X-Ray region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Once that task has been accomplished, the commercial laser X-Ray will come next.
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