Pre-equilibrium effects on proton, deuteron, and alpha induced reactions for the production of 72As as a PET imaging radioisotope

Abstract

In this study, the production methods and the applications of 72As are reviewed with special attention to the feasibility of the cyclotron production of 72As. TALYS-1.4 and ALICE/ASH codes were employed to illustrate the formation of the 72As via natGe(p, xn)72As, 72,73,74Ge(p, xn)72As, 72Ge(d, 2n)72As, and 69Ga(α, n)72As reactions. Hybrid model and geometry dependent hybrid model were used in ALICE/ASH code to calculate the pre-equilibrium neutron-production cross sections. The excitation functions of the reactions were taken from the TENDL-2011 database and compared with the reported experimental measurement. The equilibrium and pre-equilibrium effects on the reactions were also discussed. An optimum energy range and the level of impurities for each reaction were determined. The 72As production yield was evaluated with concentration on the excitation function calculations and the stopping powers of the projectiles in the targets.