Formation of 60Cu and 61Cu via Co + 3He reactions up to 70 MeV: production possibility of 60Cu for PET studies

Abstract

Excitation functions for 60Cu and 61Cu radioactive nuclei produced in 3He bombardment of 59Co up to 70 MeV has been measured using the stacked-foil activation technique. The experimental cross-sections of the 59Co( 3He,2n) 60Cu and 59Co( 3He,n) 61Cu nuclear reactions were compared with published literature data. Our yield calculations with respect to the application of the above reactions for practical production of 60Cu showed that around 3.1 mCi/μA 60Cu yield is available at EOB in the energy range 26 → 10 MeV (supposing one half-life of 60Cu activation time). Unfortunately, the level of 61Cu impurity increases continuously after EOB (1.4% at EOB), but remains around 4% even at the end of a PET study (supposing one half-live cooling (processing) time and around 20 min counting time with PET). On the bases of the present work the Co + 3He route seems to be a good candidate for routine production of 60Cu even with a low energy multiparticle cyclotron.