Self-focusing of electrons emitted by rectangular pyroelectric crystals: A study on geometrical conditions for optimized X-ray intensities

Pyroelectric crystals such as LiTaO
₃
or LiNbO
₃
offer the opportunity to produce X-rays with high energy and intensity. These pyroelectric X-ray sources may be used in XRF applications due to particular advantages. This report deals with systematic studies on the behavior of these crystals enabling an optimization of X-ray intensity. Furthermore, the focusing of electrons emitted by rectangular pyroelectric crystals has been studied.