PRODUCTION OF CR-51 BY DEUTERON ACTIVATION OF NATURAL CHROMIUM

The investigation of the nuclear activation yield of natural chromium was dictated by the technological interest of the use of the thin laye r activation technique for the study of surface performances of chromi um based materials. For practical applications, Cr-51 has been selecte d as tracing element. Three deuteron induced reactions lead to Cr-51 i n the energy range from 0 to 18 MeV: Cr-51(d, p)Cr-51, Cr-52(d, p2n)Cr -51 and Cr-50(d, n)Mn-51 (Mn-51 --> Cr-51). The activation yield for t he deuteron induced production of Cr-51 as a function of the energy ha s been measured experimentally via the stacked-foil method using an en ergy variable cyclotron. To compute the energy incident on each foil a nd its distribution due to multiscattering effects, a Monte Carlo prog ram has been elaborated, simulating the energy straggling of a particl e beam passing through a stacked foil sample of given thickness and co mposition. The yield profile has also been calculated using two comput er codes, STAPRE and ALICE.