Tesla On Reflected Roentgen Rays

To the Editor of Electrical Review:

In previous communications in regard to the effects discovered by Roentgen, I have confined myself to giving barely a brief outline of the most noteworthy results arrived at in the course of my investigations. To state truthfully, I have ventured to express myself, the first time, after some hesitation and consequent delay, and only when I had gained the conviction that the information I had to convey was a needful one; for, in common with others, I was not quite able to free myself of a certain feeling which one must experience when he is trespassing on ground not belonging to him. The discoverer would naturally himself arrive at most of the facts in due time, and a courteous restraint in the announcement of the results on the part of his co-workers would not be amiss. How many have sinned against me by proclaiming their achievements just as I was good and ready to do it myself! But these discoveries of Roentgen, exactly of the order of the telescope and microscope, his seeing through a great thickness of an opaque substance, his recording on a sensitive plate of objects otherwise invisible, were so beautiful and fascinating, so full of promise, that all restraint was put aside, and every one abandoned himself to the pleasures of speculation and experiment. Would but every new and worthy idea find such an echo! One single year would then equal a century of progress. A delight it would be to live in such age, but a discoverer I would not wish to be.

Amongst the facts, which I have had the honor to bring to notice, is one claiming a large share of scientific interest, as well as of practical importance. I refer to the demonstration of the property of reflection, on which I have dwelt briefly.

Having had opportunities to make many observations during my experience with vacuum bulbs and tubes, which could not be accounted for in any plausible way on any theory of vibration as far as I could judge, I began these investigations — disinclined, but expectant to find that the effects produced are due to a stream of material particles. I had many evidences of the existence of such streams. One of these I mentioned, describing the method of electrically exhausting a tube. Such exhaustion, I have found, takes place much quicker when the glass is very thin than when the walls are thick, I presume because of the easier passage of the ions. While a few minutes are sufficient when the glass is very thin, it often takes half an hour or more if the glass be thick or the electrode very large. In accordance with this idea I have, with a view of obtaining the most efficient action, selected the apparatus, and have found at each step my supposition confirmed and my conviction strengthened.

A stream of material particles, possessing a great velocity, must needs be reflected, and I was therefore quite prepared — assuming my original idea to be true — to demonstrate sooner or later this property. Considering that the reflection should be the more complete the smaller the angle of incidence, I adopted from the outset of my investigations a tube or bulb b of the form shown in Fig. 1. It was made of very thick glass, with a bottom blown as thin as possible, with the two obvious objects of restricting the radiation to the sides and facilitating the passage through the bottom. A single electrode e, in the form of a round disk of a diameter slightly less than that of the tube, was placed about an inch below the narrow neck n on the top. The leading-in conductor c was provided with a long wrapping w, so as to prevent cracking, by the formation of sparks at the point where the wire enters the bulb. It was found advantageous for a number of reasons to extend the wrapping a good distance beyond the neck, on the inside and outside as well, and to place the seal-off in the narrow neck. On other occasions I have dwelt on the employment of an electrostatic screen in connection with such single-terminal bulbs. In the present instance the screen was preferably formed by a bronze paintings, slightly above the aluminum electrode and extending to just a little below the wrapping of the wire, so as to allow seeing constantly the end of the wrapping. Or else a small aluminum plate s, Fig. 2, was supported in the inside of the bulb above the electrode. This static screen practically doubles the effect, as it prevented all action above it. Considering, further, that the radiation sideways was restricted by the use of a very thick glass and most of it was thrown to the bottom by reflection, as I then surmised, it became evident that such a tube should prove much more efficient than one of ordinary form. Indeed, I quickly found that its power upon the sensitive plate was very nearly four times as great as that of a spherical bulb with an equivalent area of impact. This kind of tube is also very well adapted for use with two terminals by placing an external electrode e₁ as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. When the glass is taken thick the stream is sensibly parallel and concentrated. Furthermore, by making the tube as long as one desired, it was possible to employ very high potentials, otherwise impracticable with short bulbs.

The use of high potentials is of great importance, as it allows shortening considerably the time of exposure, and affecting the plate at much greater distances. I am endeavoring to determine more exactly the relation of the potential to the effect produced upon the sensitive plate. I deem it necessary to remark that the electrode should be of aluminum, as a platinum electrode, which is still persistently employed, gives inferior results and the bulb is disabled in comparatively short time. Some experimenters might find trouble in maintaining a fairly constant vacuum, owing to a peculiar process of absorption in the bulb, which has been pointed out early by Crookes, in consequence of which, by continued use, the vacuum may increase. A convenient way to prevent this I have found to be the following: The screen or aluminum plate s, Fig. 2, is placed directly upon the wrapping of the leading-in conductor c, but some distance back from the end. The right distance can be only determined by experience. If it is properly chosen, then, during the action of the bulb, the wrapping gets warmer, and a small bright spark jumps from time to time from the wire c to the aluminum plate s through the wrapping w. The passage of this spark causes gases to be formed, which slightly impair the vacuum, and in this manner, by a little skillful manipulation, the proper vacuum may be constantly maintained. Another way of getting the same result in a tube shown in Fig. 1 is to extend the wrapping so far inside that, when the bulb is normally working, the wrapping is heated sufficiently to free gases to the required amount. It is for this purpose convenient to let the screen of bronze painting s extend just a little below the wrapping, so that the spark may be observed. There are, however, many other ways of overcoming this difficulty, which may cause some annoyance to those working with inadequate apparatus.

In order to insure the best action the experimenter should note the various stages which I have pointed out before, and through which the bulb has to pass during the process of exhaustion. He will first observe that when the Crookes phenomena show themselves most prominently there is a reddish streamer issuing from the electrode, which in the beginning covers the latter almost entirely. Up to this point the bulb practically does not affect the sensitive plate, although the glass is very hot at the point of impact. Gradually the reddish streamer disappears, and just before it ceases to be visible the bulb begins to show better action, but still the effect upon the plate is very weak. Presently a white or even bluish stream is observed, and after some time the glass on the bottom of the bulb gets a glossy appearance. The heat is still more intense and the phosphorescence through the entire bulb is extremely brilliant. One should think that such a bulb must be effective, but appearances are often deceitful, and the beautiful bulb still does not work. Even when the white or bluish stream ceases, and the glass on the bottom is so hot as to be nearly melting, the effect on the plate is very weak. But at this stage there appears suddenly at the bottom, of the tube a star-shaped changing design, as if the electrode would throw off drops of liquid. From this moment on the power of the bulb is tenfold, and at this stage it must always be kept to give the best results.

I may remark, however, that while it may be generally stated the Crookes vacuum is not high enough for the production of the Roentgen phenomena, this is not literally true. Nor are the Crookes phenomena produced at a particular degree of exhaustion, but manifest themselves even with poor vacua, provided the potential is high enough. This is likewise true of the Roentgen effects. Naturally, to verify this, provision must be made not to overheat the bulb when the potential is raised. This is easily done by reducing the number of impulses or their duration, when raising the potential. For such experiments, it will be found of advantage to use in connection with the ordinary induction coil a rotating commutator, instead of a vibrating brake. By changing the speed of the commutator, and also regulating the duration of contact, one is enabled to adjust the conditions to suit the degree of vacuum and potential employed.

In my experiments on reflection, presently considered, I have used the apparatus shown in Fig: 2. It consists of a T-shaped box throughout, of a square cross-section. The walls are made of lead over one-eighth of an inch thick, which, under the conditions of the experiments, was found to be entirely impervious, even by long exposures to the rays. On the top end was supported firmly the bulb b, inclosed in a glass tube t of thick Bohemian glass, which reached some distance into the lead box. The lower end of the box was tightly closed by a plate-holder P₁, containing the sensitive film p₁, protected as usual. Finally the side end was closed by a similar plate-holder P, with the sensitive protected film p. To obtain sharp images the objects o and o₁, exactly alike, were placed in the center of the fiber cover, protecting the sensitive plates. In the central portion of the box, provision was made for inserting a plate r of material, the reflective power of which was to be tested, and the dimensions of the box were such that the reflected ray and the direct one had to go through the same distance, the reflecting plate being at an angle of 45 degrees to the incident as well as reflected ray. Care was taken to exclude all possibility of action upon the plate p, except by reflected rays, and the reflecting plate r was made to fit tight all around in the lead box, so that no rays could reach the film p₁, except by passing through the plate to be tested. In my earliest experiments on reflection I observed only the effects of reflected rays, but in this instance, on the suggestion of Prof. Wm. A. Anthony, I provided the above means for simultaneously examining the action of the direct rays, which eventually passed through the reflecting plate. In this manner it was possible to compare the amount of the transmitted and reflected radiation. The glass tube t surrounding the bulb b served to render the stream parallel and more intense. By taking impressions at various distances I found that through a considerable distance there was but little spreading of the bundle of rays or stream of particles.

To reduce the error which is caused unavoidably by too long exposures and very small distances, I reduced the exposure to an hour, and the total distance through which the rays had to pass before reaching the sensitive plates was 20 inches, the distance from the bottom of the bulb to the reflecting plate being 13 inches.

It is needless to remark that all the precautions in regard to the sensitive plates — constancy of potential, uniform working of the bulbs, and maintenance of the same conditions in general during these tests have been taken, as far as it was practicable. The plates to be tested were made of uniform size, so as to fit the space provided in the lead box. Of the conductors the following were tested: Brass, toolsteel, zinc, aluminum copper, lead, silver, tin, and nickel, and of the insulators, lead-glass, ebonite, and mica. The summary of the observations is given in the following table:

By comparing, as in previous experiments, the intensity of the impression by reflected rays with an equivalent impression due to a direct exposure of the same bulb and at the same distance — that is, by calculating from the times of exposure under assumption that the action upon the plate was proportionate to the time — the following approximate results were obtained:

While these figures can be but rough approximations, there is, nevertheless, a fair probability that they are correct, in so far as the relative values of the impressions by reflected rays for the various bodies are concerned. Arranging the metals according to these values, and leaving for the moment the alloys or impure bodies out of question, we arrive at the following order: Zinc, lead, tin, copper, silver. The tin appears to reflect fully as well as lead, but, allowing for an error in the observation, we may assume that it reflects less, and in this case we find that this order is precisely the contact series of metals in air. If this proves true we shall be confronted with the most extraordinary fact. Why is zinc, for instance, the best reflector among the metals tested and why, at the same time, is it one of the foremost in the contact series? I have not as yet tried magnesium. The truth is that I was somewhat excited over these results. Magnesium should be even a better reflector than zinc, and sodium still better than magnesium. How can this singular relationship be explained? The only possible explanation seems to me at present that the bulb throws out streams of matter in some primary condition, and that the reflection of these streams is dependent upon some fundamental and electrical property of the metals. This would seem to lead to the inference that these streams must be of uniform electrification; that is, that they must be anodic or cathodic in character, but not both. Since the announcement, I believe in France for the first time, that the streams are anodic, I have investigated the subject and find that I can not agree with this contention. On the contrary, I find that anodic and cathodic streams both affect the plate, and, furthermore, I have been led to the conviction that the phosphorescence of the glass has nothing whatever to do with the photographic impressions. An obvious proof is that such impressions are produced with aluminum vessels when there is no phosphorescence, and, as regards the anodic or cathodic character, the simple fact that we can produce impressions by a luminous discharge excited by induction of a closed vessel, when there is neither anode nor cathode, would seem to dispose effectually of the assumption that the streams are issuing solely from one of the electrodes. It may, perhaps, be useful to point out here a simple fact in relation to the induction coils, which may lead an experimenter into an error. When a vacuum tube is attached to the terminals of an induction coil, both of the terminals are acted upon alike as long as the tube is not very highly exhausted. At a high degree of exhaustion both the electrodes act practically independently, and since they behave as bodies possessing considerable capacity, the consequence is that the coil is unbalanced. If the cathode, for instance, is very large, the pressure on the anode may rise considerably, and if the latter is made smaller, as is frequently the case, the electric density may be many times that on the cathode. It results from this that the anode gets very hot, while the cathode may be cool. Quite the opposite occurs if both of them are made exactly alike. But assuming the above conditions to exist, the hotter anode emits a more intense stream than the cool cathode, since the velocity of the particles is dependent on the electrical density, and likewise on the temperature.

From the previous tests air interesting observation can also be made in regard to the opacity. Far instance, a brass plate one-sixteenth inch thick proved fairly transparent while plates of zinc and copper of the same thickness showed themselves to be entirely opaque.

Since I have investigated reflection and arrived to results in this direction, I have been able to produce stronger effects by employing proper reflectors. By surrounding a bulb with a very thick glass tube the effect may be augmented very considerably. The employment of a zinc reflector in one instance showed an increase of about 40 per cent in the impression produced. I attach great practical value to the employment of proper reflectors, because by means of them we can employ any quantity of bulbs, and so produce any intensity of radiation required.

One disappointment in the course of these investigations has been the entire failure of my efforts to demonstrate refraction. I have employed lenses of all kinds and tried a great many experiments, but could not obtain any positive result.

Nikola Tesla.
New York, March 30.