Commercial cyclotrons. Part I: Commercial cyclotrons in the energy range 10–30 MeV for isotope production

Abstract

A survey of commercial cyclotrons for production of medical and industrial isotopes is presented. Compact isochronous cyclotrons which accelerate negative hydrogen ions in the energy range 10–30 MeV have been widely used over the last 25 years for production of medical isotopes and other applications. Different cyclotron models for the energy range 10–12 MeV with moderate beam intensity are used for production of 11C, 13N, 15O, and 18F isotopes widely applied in positron emission tomography. Commercial cyclotrons with high beam intensity are available on the market for production of most medical and industrial isotopes. In this work, the physical and technical parameters of different models are compared. Possibilities of improving performance and increasing intensity of H− beams up to 2–3 mA are discussed.