Activation cross sections of proton induced nuclear reactions on palladium up to 80 MeV

TL;DR

This study measured proton-induced nuclear reaction cross sections on palladium up to 80 MeV, providing experimental data, comparing it with theoretical models, and discussing applications in medical radionuclide production.

Contribution

It presents new experimental cross section data for palladium reactions up to 80 MeV and compares these with theoretical predictions, aiding medical isotope production.

Findings

Measured excitation functions for multiple palladium reactions.

Compared experimental data with TENDL-2014 and -2015 libraries.

Derived practical thick target yields for medical applications.

Abstract

Activation cross sections of proton induced nuclear reactions on palladium were measured up to 80 MeV by using the stacked foil irradiation technique and gamma ray spectrometry. The beam intensity, the incident energy and the energy degradation were controlled by a method based on flux constancy via normalization to the excitation functions of monitor reactions measured in parallel. Excitation functions for direct and cumulative cross-sections were measured for the production of ${}^{104m,104g,105}$${}^{g,106m,110m}$Ag, ${}^{100,101}$Pd, ${}^{99m,99g,100,}$${}^{101m}$${}^{,101g,102m,102g,105}$Rh and ${}^{103,}$${}^{97}$Ru radioisotopes. The cross section data were compared with the theoretical predictions of TENDL-2014 and -2015 libraries. For practical applications thick target yields were derived from the measured excitation functions. Application in the field of medical radionuclide production is shortly discussed.