What is the Potential Impact of the IsoDAR Cyclotron on Radioisotope Production: A Review

TL;DR

The IsoDAR cyclotron, with its high current and energy capabilities, has the potential to revolutionize radioisotope production by enabling high-activity samples and flexible ion delivery, surpassing current commercial cyclotrons.

Contribution

This review highlights the potential of the IsoDAR cyclotron to significantly enhance radioisotope production through its high-current, high-energy design and operational flexibility.

Findings

Enables production of very high-activity isotopes in short times

Offers flexible ion delivery including protons and alpha particles

Overcomes limitations of existing commercial cyclotrons

Abstract

The IsoDAR collaboration is developing a high-current cyclotron for a neutrino search experiment. Designed to deliver 10 mA of 60 MeV protons, the current and power of this cyclotron far exceed those of existing accelerators, opening new possibilities for the production of radiopharmaceutical isotopes, producing very high-activity samples in very short times. The cyclotron can also be easily configured to deliver ions other than protons including 1 mA of alpha particles at 240 MeV: this flexibility gives a broad reach into new areas of isotope production. We explain how IsoDAR overcomes the beam limits of commercial cyclotrons, and how it could represent the next step in isotope production rates.