X-Ray and Neutron Power Enhanced
by New Optics
- Design and fabrication capability achieved for first
optics to control high-energy X-rays and neutrons.
- Spin-offs include instrument that generates
beams 100 times the intensity of other compact X-ray sources.
- Early applications accelerate drug design
and monitoring of magnetic data-storage materials.
Dramatic new capabilities in medicine, electronics, and science are
beginning to emerge from a small New York company’s successful exploitation of the
first method of focusing high-energy X-rays and neutrons, an advance that reduces the cost
and bulkiness of important research instruments. X-Ray Optical Systems, Inc., was formed
in 1990 to develop a new method for reflecting X-rays and neutrons through bundles of tiny
glass capillaries, which can be curved to direct the radiation in parallel beams or spots.
The concept had been demonstrated in prototype lenses but the technology had to be
reliable, cost effective, and safe to be commercially viable. Co-funding from NIST’s
Advanced Technology Program (ATP) enabled the company to develop a capability to predict
and optimize optical performance, design a reliable fabrication process and equipment,
investigate alternative glass materials, and ensure optic reliability. The three-year ATP
project, which ended in 1995, laid the groundwork for several follow-on contracts from
other federal agencies and enabled the company to pursue diverse applications that are
beginning to offer broad-based benefits.
The “capillary optics” normally are used to control X-rays for
manufacturing and analytical instruments, but they also work for low-energy neutrons. The
new optics, which the company says can identify and determine the structure of proteins
four to 10 times faster than conventional methods, already are being used to analyze
large, near-perfect crystals grown in the weightless environment of space to support new
drug design. X-Ray Optical Systems worked with the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) and other collaborators to develop the world’s most compact
intense source of commercial X-rays. The NASA work helped characterize an antibody to a
rare virus afflicting infants, an important step toward a treatment, and led to the
formation of a new company, New Century Pharmaceuticals in Alabama. Among industrial
applications, the optics are enabling the cost-effective development and monitoring of
magnetic data-storage materials by IBM Corp., which reports four- to 16-fold increases in
X-ray output. The many applications still at the research stage include defect composition
analysis for semiconductor manufacturing, X-ray lithography of high-density computer chips
and digital mammography, where early tests produced exceptional image clarity, potentially
making it easier to spot tumors.
ATP funding: $1,949,000
Non-ATP funding: $371,000
For more information
February 1999 |
