A WINDOWLESS N-13 PRODUCTION TARGET FOR USE WITH LOW-ENERGY DEUTERON ACCELERATORS

The recent development of low energy accelerators for positron emissio n tomography has necessitated the development of new targets for N-13 production. C-12(d,n)N-13 reaction yields in graphite at low deuteron beam energies (0.8-3.2 MeV) are presented and a new technique for the in situ extraction of N-13 activity from solid graphite and subsequent conversion to [N-13] ammonia is described. The target is windowless a nd is reusable for multiple isotope production runs. This technique ut ilizes radio frequency induction heating to rapidly heat the graphite to combustion temperatures in an O-2 gas stream. The conversion of act ivity induced in the target to [N-13] ammonia in under 10 min with an overall decay-corrected efficiency of 45% is reported.