How do Linear Accelerators Work?
Linear accelerators speed up electrons to nearly the speed of light inside a vacuum tube and direct this electron beam onto a heavy metal target. What emerges from the other side of the target is a narrowly focused beam of high-energy x-rays, also known as photons. These photons can then be directed through a targeting process from many different angles, all converging on the tumor being treated. All of these machines are very complex and can be rotated in an up-and-down as well as side-to-side direction.
