title: Production of medical Sc radioisotopes with an alpha particle beam.
abstract: The internal α-particle beam of the Warsaw Heavy Ion Cyclotron was used to produce research quantities of the medically interesting Sc radioisotopes from natural Ca and K and isotopically enriched42Ca targets. The targets were made of metallic calcium, calcium carbonate and potassium chloride. New data on the production yields and impurities generated during the target irradiations are presented for the positron emitters43Sc,44gSc and44mSc. The different paths for the production of the long lived44mSc/44gSc in vivo generator, proposed by the ARRONAX team, using proton and deuteron beams as well as alpha-particle beams are discussed. Due to the larger angular momentum transfer in the formation of the compound nucleus in the case of the alpha particle induced reactions, the isomeric ratio of44mSc/44gSc at a bombarding energy of 29MeV is five times larger than previously determined for a deuteron beam and twenty times larger than for proton induced reactions on enriched CaCO3targets. Therefore, formation of this generator via the alpha-particle route seems a very attractive way to form these isotopes. The experimental data presented here are compared with theoretical predictions made using the EMPIRE evaporation code. Reasonable agreement is generally observed.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics, Department of Nuclear Physics and its Applications, University of Silesia, 40-007 Katowice, Poland.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Szkliniarz
authors.affiliation: Heavy Ion Laboratory, University of Warsaw, 02-093 Warszawa, Poland; Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, 02-093 Warszawa, Poland.
authors.forename: Mateusz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sitarz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, 03-195 Warszawa, Poland.
authors.forename: Rafał
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Walczak
authors.affiliation: Heavy Ion Laboratory, University of Warsaw, 02-093 Warszawa, Poland. Electronic address: jastj@slcj.uw.edu.pl.
authors.forename: Jerzy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jastrzębski
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, 03-195 Warszawa, Poland.
authors.forename: Aleksander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bilewicz
authors.affiliation: Heavy Ion Laboratory, University of Warsaw, 02-093 Warszawa, Poland.
authors.forename: Jarosław
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Choiński
authors.affiliation: Heavy Ion Laboratory, University of Warsaw, 02-093 Warszawa, Poland.
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jakubowski
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, 03-195 Warszawa, Poland.
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Majkowska
authors.affiliation: Heavy Ion Laboratory, University of Warsaw, 02-093 Warszawa, Poland.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stolarz
authors.affiliation: Heavy Ion Laboratory, University of Warsaw, 02-093 Warszawa, Poland.
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Trzcińska
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics, Department of Nuclear Physics and its Applications, University of Silesia, 40-007 Katowice, Poland.
authors.forename: Wiktor
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zipper
keywords: (43,44)Sc radioisotopes; Alpha particle beam; Radioisotope production; Thick Target Yield; in vivo(44m)Sc /(44g)Sc generator