Short-Lived PET Radioisotope Production in a Small Plasma Focus Device

Abstract

High-energy deuterons from a small plasma focus device (1.7 kJ) have been used for short-lived radioisotope production. For the <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">12</sup> C(d, n) <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">13</sup> N reaction, 40 kBq of <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">13</sup> N was obtained by bombarding a graphite target at a 1-Hz shot repetition rate for 30 s. This could be increased to 10 MBq at a 16-Hz repetition rate. Plasma focus devices operating with higher bank energies should produce substantially higher isotope yields.