Focused X-Rays, LLC

Other

University of Colorado

Sirius Medicine, LLC

Webster C Cash, Jr

Michael D Weil

Contrast agents developed specifically for x-ray diagnostics provide dose-enhanced radiotherapy and radiosurgery. The presence of heavy elements from these contrast agents, even small quantities, leads to a major dose increase in target tissue. When combined with in vivo calibration of the amount of contrast agent, the procedure is quick, accurate, and safe. The technique can also be used in combination with other techniques, such as focused x-rays, to achieve further enhancement of therapeutic ratio. Through optimization of the equipment it is possible to achieve very large ratios of dose in target to dose in healthy tissue, up to 10:1.

Pharmaceutically enhanced low-energy radiosurgery

An interferometer that uses plane mirrors at grazing incidence to create interference fringes in the extreme ultraviolet and x-ray portions of the spectrum. X-ray interferometry has historically been implemented through narrow band, diffractive systems that split the wavefront. By using two separate optical channels at grazing incidence to create interference from two areas of the wavefront, this system has broad band response and much higher efficiency. The interferometer has applications to telescopes, microscopes and spectrometers in the extreme ultraviolet and x-ray, and high contrast imaging in the visible.

X-ray interferometer

Contrast agents developed specifically for x-ray diagnostics provide dose-enhanced radiotherapy and radiosurgery. The presence of heavy elements from these contrast agents, even small quantities, leads to a major dose increase in target tissue. When combined with in vivo calibration of the amount of contrast agent, the procedure is quick, accurate, and safe. The technique can also be used in combination with other techniques, such as focused x-rays, to achieve further enhancement of therapeutic ratio. Through optimization of the equipment it is possible to achieve very large ratios of dose in target to dose in healthy tissue up to 10:1.

A new class of x-ray optic suitable for use in x-ray proximity lithography employs many mirror facets arranged in a grazing incidence geometry at a relatively large distance from the mask. Each mirror facet is substantially flat in that its radius of curvature is substantially larger than the target. Each facet creates an optically independent channel that covers the entire target. The facets are arranged so that many channels can simultaneously illuminate the target, thereby achieving high flux at the target with high uniformity. Constraints on local and global divergence at the mask are met by making the optic sufficiently small and placing it sufficiently distant from the target.

Collimator for x-ray proximity lithography

An x-ray collimator for use primarily in x-ray lithography for semiconductor fabrication provides a multi-channel collimator to produce a series of collimated beams from an x-ray source. Each channel in the array gathers photons from a small solid angle of the x-ray source and employs at least two pairs of orthogonal spherical mirrors in grazing incidence to produce a collimated beam. An array of flat mirrors steer the collimated beams into a slightly converging geometry. A beam assembler then combines the beams to create a single, large collimated beam that can be used to expose the die.

X-ray collimator for lithography

An optical system for x-rays combines at least two spherical or near spherical mirrors for each dimension in grazing incidence orientation to provide the functions of a lens in the x-ray region. To focus x-ray radiation in both the X and the Y dimensions, one of the mirrors focusses the X dimension, a second mirror focusses the Y direction, a third mirror corrects the X dimension by removing comatic aberration and a fourth mirror corrects the Y dimension. Spherical aberration may also be removed for an even better focus. The order of the mirrors is unimportant.

Growing community of inventors

Boulder, CO, United States of America

Webster C Cash, Jr