University of Wisconsin-Madison Physical Sciences Lab

X-Ray Microbeam

[photo of Xray Microbeam beamline]

PSL designed and built an x-ray microbeam device for the UW Waisman Center, a national speech research facility. One of only two machines in the world of its type ever created, the microbeam analyzed speech patterns by tracking small pellets placed on the subject’s tongue, teeth and nose. The tracking was accomplished by a very narrow x-ray beam passing through the subject area and detected by a sodium iodide crystal located behind the head. The dense pellets block the x-rays from reaching the crystal. The microbeam allowed study of speech patterns in real time.

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