Cross Sections and Excitation Functions of 40 to 110 MeV α-Particle Induced Reactions in Natural Chromium

Abstract

The reactions of alpha particles on natural abundance chromium have been studied between 40 and 110 MeV, in order to produce "Fe for medical use. The yield of the reaction "Cr(a, 4n) 52 Fe for Ε a = 85 ->• 53 MeV is only 30 μ(Γί/μΑ1ι.

Yield of 52Fe by α-Particle Reactions on Natural Chromium at 70 MeV

“…At low energy,^ = 30 MeV, S3 Fe yield is 110KBq/μΑΙι, whereas at E a = 70MeV, the yield is 750 KBq/μΑΙι. The excitation function of Cr(a, xn) 52 Fe has two humps [8,11 ]. The a max in the first hump is just less than 1 mb [8] at E a = 32 MeV.…”

“…This a max corresponds to S0 Cr(a,2n)"Fe reaction on natural chromium. The other a max = 1.1 mb [ 11 ] at E a =66 MeV is the total cross section of SÎ,S3,54 Cr(a, xn) S2 Fe reaction, but can be mainly attributed to 52 Cr(a, 4n) S2 Fe, since S2 Cr has a much higher abundance. Though the o max of the two humps are nearly equal, the shape of the second hump is slightly broader and hence a higher yield of S2 Fe is feasible in the higher energy range.…”

“…The use of S2 Fe is, however, limited due to the difficulties associated in producing it in large quantities, especially with a 'medical cyclotron', which permits only limited beam energies. s2 Fe production by a, 3 He or ρ bombardment of suitable target has been tried by various authors [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] and are summarized in Table 1. In the present study, we have irradiated thick natural chromium metal targets with α-particles of energy up to 70 MeV.…”