System and method for X-ray generation

An imaging system comprising:

• a first electron beam source of the imaging system configured to direct a first electron pulse of predetermined energy and pulse length towards a first interaction zone;
• a laser beam source configured to direct a first photon pulse of predetermined energy and pulse length towards the first interaction zone to interact with the first electron pulse so that the interaction produces a substantially monochromatic second photon pulse of higher photon energy directed towards a second interaction zone;
• and
• a second electron beam source of the imaging system configured to direct a second electron pulse of predetermined energy and pulse length towards the second interaction zone so that the interaction produces a substantially monochromatic X-ray pulse of predetermined energy and length in a cascaded inverse Compton scattering (ICS) configuration.

A method of generating an X-ray pulse of tunable energy comprising the steps of:

• generating a first photon pulse;
• generating a first electron pulse substantially synchronously with the first photon pulse;
• inverse Compton scattering the first electron pulse off the first electron pulse in a first interaction zone to produce a second photon pulse, wherein the photons in the second photon pulse have a higher energy than the photons in the first photon pulse;
• generating a second electron pulse;
• and
• inverse Compton scattering the second electron pulse with the second photon pulse in a second interaction zone to produce a pulse of substantially monochromatic X-ray photons.