Shielded, transmission-target, x-ray tube

A transmission-target x-ray tube comprising:

• a) a cathode including an electron-emitter capable of emitting electrons towards a target material on an x-ray window;
• b) an anode including a window-housing, a window-cap, and the x-ray window, with the x-ray window mounted on a window-mount portion of the window-housing and sandwiched between the window-cap and the window-housing;
• c) an electrically-insulative enclosure carrying the cathode and the anode and electrically-insulating the cathode from the anode;
• d) the x-ray window being configured for transmission of x-rays and including the target material configured for production and emission of x-rays in response to impinging electrons;
• e) the window-cap including:
• i) an aperture extending therethrough;
• ii) an average atomic number of at least 45;
• and
• iii) an average density of at least 12 g/cm3;
• f) the window-housing including:
• i) a proximal-end closer to the electron-emitter than an other end of the window-housing;
• ii) a distance between the window-mount and the electron-emitter is farther than a distance between the window-mount and the proximal-end of the window housing;
• iii) an aperture, extending through the window-housing from the proximal-end to the window-mount, and including an increasing-inner-diameter region with a smaller diameter closer to the proximal-end and a larger diameter closer to the window-mount;
• iv) an average atomic number of at least 45;
• and
• v) an average density of at least 12 g/cm3;
• g) a blocking-disk, associated with and electrically-coupled to the cathode, and having an average atomic number of at least 45 and an average density of at least 12 g/cm3.

A transmission-target x-ray tube comprising:

• a) a cathode including an electron-emitter capable of emitting electrons towards a target material on an x-ray window;
• b) an anode including a window-housing and the x-ray window, with the x-ray window mounted on a window-mount portion of the window-housing;
• c) an electrically-insulative enclosure carrying the cathode and the anode and electrically-insulating the cathode from the anode;
• d) the x-ray window being configured for transmission of x-rays and including the target material configured for production and emission of x-rays in response to impinging electrons;
• and
• e) the window-housing including:
• i) a proximal-end closer to the electron-emitter than an other end of the window-housing;
• ii) a distance between the window-mount and the electron-emitter is farther than a distance between the window-mount and the proximal-end of the window housing;
• iii) an aperture, extending through the window-housing from the proximal-end to the window-mount, including an increasing-inner-diameter region with a smaller diameter closer to the proximal-end and a larger diameter closer to the window-mount, and having an angle in the increasing-inner-diameter region that is at least 20 degrees with respect to a longitudinal-axis of the x-ray tube, the longitudinal-axis extending from the electron-emitter through the aperture of the window-housing and through the x-ray window;
• iv) an average atomic number of at least 45;
• and
• v) an average density of at least 12 g/cm3.