Cross sections for the production of residual nuclides by high-energy heavy ions

Abstract

Irradiation experiments were performed at the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (HIMAC) facility, National Institute of Radiological Sciences. The radioactive spallation products in a thick Cu target were obtained for Ar(230, 400 MeV/nucleon), Si(800 MeV/nucleon), Ne(100, 230, 400 MeV/nucleon), C(100, 230, 400 MeV/nucleon), He(100, 230 MeV/nucleon), p(100, 230 MeV) ions. The gamma-ray spectra from irradiated Cu, C, Al, Cr, Fe, Ni, Pb samples inserted into the composite Cu target were measured with a HPGe detector. From the gamma-ray spectra, we obtained the reaction cross section data on the Cu, C, Al, Cr, Fe, Ni and Pb samples. The measured cross sections were fitted to a modified form of Rudstam’s semi-empirical formula in order to evaluate the cross sections of unmeasured nuclides. These estimated cross sections were added to the experimental yields for each mass number and the total mass-yield and isobaric charge distributions. We also calculated the cross sections for the production of residual nuclides by high-energy heavy ions by the particle and heavy-ion transport code system (PHITS) code and compared with measured results. The PHITS code provides good results on cross section calculations.