Hauptbremsstrahlung

Bremsstrahlung, often translated as "braking radiation," is electromagnetic radiation produced by the deceleration of a charged particle. In the context of X-ray production, this typically refers to the process where high-energy electrons are rapidly decelerated when they collide with the anode target material within an X-ray tube.

When an electron interacts with the nucleus of an atom in the target, it experiences a strong electrostatic force. This force causes the electron to change direction and lose kinetic energy. The lost kinetic energy is emitted as a photon, which is a quantum of electromagnetic radiation. The energy of the emitted photon can range from zero up to the initial kinetic energy of the incident electron.

This characteristic of Bremsstrahlung is fundamental to the generation of X-rays used in medical imaging and other applications. The continuous spectrum of X-ray energies produced by Bremsstrahlung is one of the two main components of an X-ray beam, the other being characteristic X-rays. The intensity and energy distribution of the Bremsstrahlung radiation are dependent on factors such as the accelerating voltage applied to the X-ray tube and the atomic number of the target material. Higher accelerating voltages result in electrons with more kinetic energy, leading to higher energy photons. Target materials with higher atomic numbers produce more Bremsstrahlung radiation due to stronger interactions with the electrons.