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Applied physics

A stroke of X-ray

Nature volume 473, pages 455–456 (2011)Cite this article

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X-rays were discovered more than 100 years ago. They have since become a staple tool for medicine and science, so researchers are continuing their efforts to find innovative ways to produce them.

A few years ago, a discovery1 was made that flabbergasted scientists and laymen alike: peeling a common adhesive tape produces X-rays bright enough to take an image resolving a human digit. Writing in Applied Physics Letters, Hird et al.2 now describe how they have developed a prototype that promises to turn this principle of X-ray production into a simple, low-cost X-ray source.

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Figure 1: A triboelectric X-ray machine.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stefan Kneip is at the Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BZ, UK.,

    Stefan Kneip

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  1. Stefan Kneip
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Correspondence to Stefan Kneip.

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Kneip, S. A stroke of X-ray. Nature 473, 455–456 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/473455a

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