Design of a 5Â MeV electron linac based X-ray source

A compact X-ray source, based on a 5 MeV autofocusing electron linac, has been designed and set up for radiographic purposes at the Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Messina. A detailed study has been performed, by means of the MCNP-4C2 code, on the optimization of the parameters involved in the X-ray production, transport and detection, that will be described in this paper, as well as the final source configuration pattern.