Proton Beam Based Production of Positron Emitters by Exploiting the 27Al(p,x)22Na Reaction

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Krug, Lisa-Marie, Cryssos, Leon, Bundesmann, Juergen, Dittwald, Alina, Kourkafas, Georgios, Denker, Andrea, Hugenschmidt, Christoph
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866909137927929856
author Krug, Lisa-Marie
Cryssos, Leon
Bundesmann, Juergen
Dittwald, Alina
Kourkafas, Georgios
Denker, Andrea
Hugenschmidt, Christoph
author_facet Krug, Lisa-Marie
Cryssos, Leon
Bundesmann, Juergen
Dittwald, Alina
Kourkafas, Georgios
Denker, Andrea
Hugenschmidt, Christoph
contents Positron annihilation experiments on an laboratory scale depend on the supply and the availability of $β^+$ emitters. Here we present the production of positron sources based on the $^{27}$Al(p,x)$^{22}$Na reaction by irradiation of Al with a 68\,MeV proton beam. We simulated the energy loss, range and radial scattering of the protons in Al in order to design a simple target consisting of a stack of Al discs. Our approach allows (i) the direct use of the Al discs as positron emitters that inherently avoids wet chemical processes as usually applied in commercial production of carrier-free $^{22}$Na, (ii) the production of multiple positron sources at once, and (iii) the simple measurement of the depth and lateral distribution of $^{22}$Na. We precisely determined the cross section of the $^{27}$Al(p,x)$^{22}$Na reaction which was found to differ from literature values particularly for proton energies between 27 and 40\,MeV. The activity of all nuclides produced (apart from $^{22}$Na) was shown to be negligible 15 days after irradiation. The production of radionuclides such as $^{48}$Sc, $^{54}$Mn and $^{56}$Co can be prevented by using Al of a higher purity. The concept presented here can easily be adapted for the production of stronger $^{22}$Na sources by increasing the proton current or/and the irradiation time.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_10200
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Proton Beam Based Production of Positron Emitters by Exploiting the 27Al(p,x)22Na Reaction
Krug, Lisa-Marie
Cryssos, Leon
Bundesmann, Juergen
Dittwald, Alina
Kourkafas, Georgios
Denker, Andrea
Hugenschmidt, Christoph
Nuclear Experiment
Instrumentation and Detectors
Positron annihilation experiments on an laboratory scale depend on the supply and the availability of $β^+$ emitters. Here we present the production of positron sources based on the $^{27}$Al(p,x)$^{22}$Na reaction by irradiation of Al with a 68\,MeV proton beam. We simulated the energy loss, range and radial scattering of the protons in Al in order to design a simple target consisting of a stack of Al discs. Our approach allows (i) the direct use of the Al discs as positron emitters that inherently avoids wet chemical processes as usually applied in commercial production of carrier-free $^{22}$Na, (ii) the production of multiple positron sources at once, and (iii) the simple measurement of the depth and lateral distribution of $^{22}$Na. We precisely determined the cross section of the $^{27}$Al(p,x)$^{22}$Na reaction which was found to differ from literature values particularly for proton energies between 27 and 40\,MeV. The activity of all nuclides produced (apart from $^{22}$Na) was shown to be negligible 15 days after irradiation. The production of radionuclides such as $^{48}$Sc, $^{54}$Mn and $^{56}$Co can be prevented by using Al of a higher purity. The concept presented here can easily be adapted for the production of stronger $^{22}$Na sources by increasing the proton current or/and the irradiation time.
title Proton Beam Based Production of Positron Emitters by Exploiting the 27Al(p,x)22Na Reaction
topic Nuclear Experiment
Instrumentation and Detectors
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.10200