Fabrication and characterization of self-supporting and backed 107Ag targets for lifetime measurements using RDM and DSAM

Abstract

Self-supporting and Au backed 107Ag targets have been fabricated from material in the form of powder at the Inter-University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), New Delhi. The method described in this report (using the combination of cold rolling and e-beam melting technique) is efficient in such a way that targets are fabricated without any significant loss of material and are free from major contamination. Consequently, this method of fabricating targets is useful for materials which are very expensive. Various techniques for thickness measurements and characterizations have been carried out, viz., α-transmission method, Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS), X-ray Diffractometry (XRD), Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The thickness of self-supporting 107Ag and backed 107Ag is ≈1.43± 0.08 and ≈1.11± 0.07 mg/cm2, respectively. One of the fabricated targets has been used successfully in nuclear physics experiment.