Excitation functions of 3He- and α-particle induced nuclear reactions on natural krypton: Production of 82Sr at a compact cyclotron

Abstract

Excitation functions have been measured for natKr( 3He, xn) 82,83,85m,85g,87mSr and natKr( 3He, pxn) 81,82m,83,84m,84g,86Rb reactions over the energy range of 10–33 MeV and for natKr(α, xn) 82,83,85m,85g,87mSr and natKr(α, pxn) 81,82m,83,84,86Rb processes from 10 to 25 MeV. Cross section data and calculated thick target yields show that for the production of 82Sr in this energy region the 3He-particle induced process is more suitable than the alpha-induced process. A high current gas target was constructed to test the 82Sr-production yield under actual production conditions using 36 MeV 3He-particles. A thick target yield of 1.49 μCi (55 kBq)/μAh was achieved using natural krypton. The 82Kr( 3He, 3n) 82Sr process is technically feasible for production and, if long parasitic irradiations could be carried out, the method would be of considerable interest for use at a medium-sized cyclotron.