Experimental Determination of Excitation Function Curves through the Measurement of Thick Target Yields in Liquid Targets: The Examples of the 68Zn(p,n)68Ga and 64Zn(p,α)61Cu Nuclear Reactions

The present work describes a method to determine excitation function curves and, therefore, cross-sections, making use of the irradiation of liquid targets at distinct energies in a biomedical cyclotron. The method relies on the derivative of experimentally measured thick target yield curves to determine the corresponding excitation function curves. The technique is presented as a valid and practical alternative to the commonly used activation method combined with the stack monitor technique, whose implementation in liquid targets offers practical difficulties. The working principle is exemplified by presenting the results obtained for the clinically relevant 68Zn(p,n)68Ga and the 64Zn(p,α)61Cu nuclear reactions, obtained though the irradiation of liquid targets containing dissolved natural zinc.

A novel approach to medical radioisotope production using inverse kinematics

The inverse kinematics methodology using a gas target has been applied to produce medically important radionuclides at the Cyclotron Institute at Texas A&M University. The production of the theranostic radionuclide 67Cu (T1/2 = 62 h) through the reaction of a 70Zn beam at 15 MeV/nucleon with a hydrogen gas target was performed. The activities at end of irradiation and the thick target yield were obtained for 67Cu. A test using the forward-focused neutrons from the primary reaction to irradiate natZn to produce 67Cu is also presented.

Can We Extract Production Cross-Sections from Thick Target Yield Measurements? A Case Study Using Scandium Radioisotopes

In this work, we present an attempt to estimate the reaction excitation function based on the measurements of thick target yield. We fit a function to experimental data points and then use three fitting parameters to calculate the cross-section. We applied our approach to 43Ca(p,n)43Sc, 44Ca(p,n)44gSc, 44Ca(p,n)44mSc, 48Ca(p,2n)47Sc and 48Ca(p,n)48Sc reactions. A general agreement was observed between the reconstructions and the available cross-section data. The algorithm described here can be used to roughly estimate cross-section values, but it requires improvements.

PENENTUAN HASIL PRODUK RADIOISOTOP FLUOR-18 PADA FASILITAS SIKLOTRON DECY-13

Suatu perhitungan untuk menentukan hasil produk radioisotop khususnya radioisotop fluor-18 pada fasilitas siklotron proton 13 MeV telah dilakukan. Perhitungannya menggunakan rumusan thick target yield pada reaksi nuklir 18O(p,n)18F. Perhitungan ini dimaksudkan untuk memastikan bahwa rumusan dan parameter-parameter yang dipakai sudah cukup layak untuk dipakai dalam commissioning siklotron DECY-13. Hasil perhitungan telah dibandingkan dengan hasil radioisotop dari siklotron-siklotron yang ada di rumah-rumah sakit Dharmais Jakarta dan MRCCC Jakarta serta standard dari IAEA. Beda dari hasil perhitungan dengan data-data pembanding tidak lebih dari 5%, yang berarti rumus perhitungan ini cukup layak untuk digunakan dalam commissioning siklotron. Perhitungan hasil produk fluor-18 dengan menggunakan rumus tersebut adalah 1223 mCi untuk operasi siklotron 30 µA arus berkas proton selama iradiasi 40 menit