Production of High-Purity^52<i>g</i>Mn from<i>^nat</i>V Targets with Alpha Beams at Cyclotrons

Abstract

Radioisotope 52gMn is of special interest for multimodal imaging. Using state-of-art nuclear reaction codes, we study the alternative nuclear reaction route natV(α,x)52gMn in comparison with the standard production routes based upon the use of chromium targets. The integral yields of 52gMn and contaminants have been evaluated. The main outcome of this investigation is that the 52gMn yield of the new production route compares favorably with respect to the standard natCr one, and the contamination due to 54Mn is expected to be significantly lower. The study also reveals a large spread in the cross-section data set and points out the need of more precise measurements of the reaction natV(α,x)52gMn as well as the need of more refined models in nuclear reaction codes such as Talys, Empire, and Fluka.