Rotary piston x-ray source with an asymmetric deflection unit

A rotary piston X-ray source, comprising:

• a housing;
• a rotary piston X-ray tube mounted inside the housing and configured to rotate about an axis of rotation and relative to the housing, the rotary piston X-ray tube having a cathode, an evacuated rotary piston and an anode, wherein
• the anode is non-rotationally connected to the evacuated rotary piston,
• the cathode includes an electron emitter configured to emit electrons, and
• the cathode is disposed inside the evacuated rotary piston on the axis of rotation;
• and
• a magnetic deflection unit including at least one multipole, wherein
• the magnetic deflection unit is disposed outside the evacuated rotary piston,
• the at least one multipole has at least four magnetic poles disposed about the axis of rotation and includes coil windings in each case,
• the at least four magnetic poles define a multipole plane on which a central axis of the at least one multipole is perpendicularly centered, and
• the at least one multipole is configured such that the central axis of the at least one multipole and the axis of rotation span a surface.