Portable X-ray source works at lower temperatures, power. (Testing/Analysis).

A handheld X-ray instrument that operates at lower temperatures and needs less power than conventional instruments has reportedly been developed by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The source is said to use electrons that an electric field draws out of microscopic tubes of carbon. A "carpet" of these tubes, each only a few millionths of a millimeter across, is placed on a metal disk. When the disk is negatively charged, a positively charged metal mesh just above it attracts electrons from the nanotube tips. These electrons are then drawn toward a ...