velocity electrons collide with a metal target, the anode, creating the X-rays. In medical X-ray tubes the target is usually tungsten or a more crack-resistant alloy of rhenium (5%) and tungsten (95%), but sometimes molybdenum for more specialized applications, such as when softer X-rays are needed as in mammography. In crystallography, a copper target is most common, with cobalt often being used when fluorescence from iron content in the sample might otherwise present a problem. The maximum energy of the produced X-ray photon is limited by the energy of the incident electron, which is equal to the voltage on the tube times the electron charge, so an 80 kV tube cannot create X-rays with an energy greater than 80 keV. When the electrons hit the target, X-rays are created by two different atomic processes: Characteristic X-ray emission (X-ray electroluminescence): If the electron has enough energy, it can knock an orbital electron out of the inner electron shell of the target atom. After that, electrons from higher energy levels fill the vacancies, and X-ray photons are emitted. This process produces an emission spectrum of X-rays at a few discrete frequencies, sometimes referred to as spectral lines. Usually, these are transitions from the upper shells to the K shell (called K lines), to the L shell (called L lines) and so on. If the transition is from 2p to 1s, it is called Kα, while if it is from 3p to 1s it is Kβ. The frequencies of these lines depend on the material of the target and are therefore called characteristic lines. The Kα line usually has greater intensity than the Kβ one and is more desirable in diffraction experiments. Thus the Kβ line is filtered out by a filter. The filter is usually made of a metal having one proton less than the anode material (e.g., Ni filter for Cu anode or Nb filter for Mo anode). Bremsstrahlung: This is radiation given off by the electrons as they are scattered by the strong electric field near the high-Z (proton number) nuclei. These X-rays have a continuous spectrum. The frequency of Bremsstrahlung is limited by the energy of incident electrons. So, the resulting output of a tube consists of a continuous Bremsstrahlung spectrum falling off to zero at the tube voltage, plus several spikes at the characteristic lines. The voltages used in diagnostic X-ray tubes range from roughly 20 kV to