Calibration of Potential of X-ray Generators in the Diagnostic Energy Region

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Abstract
Several methods for determining the peak potential applied to an X-ray tube with an accuracy of [plus or minus] 1 kv by measuring characteristics of the X-ray beam, have been evaluated. The methods included the attenuation ratio technique, techniques based on detection of the threshold energy for photoelectric absorption, and observation of the upper limit of the bremsstrahlung spectrum. Ion chambers, soild state detectors, and scintillation counters were used as radiation detectors. In the determination of the threshold X-ray tube potential needed to excite K-fluorescent radiation in a secondary radiator, it was found that normalizing the ionization chamber response to constant incident exposure simplifies the experimental set-up of the Greening-Trout procedure without loss in accuracy. The simplest and most accurate method for the determination of the threshold is to observe the fluorescent X-rays from a secondary radiator directly with a pulse-height analyser set for the energy of the characteristic X-ray.