Formation of medical radioisotope 111In in photonuclear reactions

Abstract

The possibility of photonuclear production of 111In radioisotope has been investigated. The enriched target 112Sn was irradiated at the linear electron accelerator LUE-75 of A. Alikhanian National Science Laboratory (Yerevan, Armenia) at the bremsstrahlung endpoint energy Eγmax = 55 MeV. The cross section per equivalent quantum for reactions 112Sn(γ,x)111In, 112Sn(γ,n)111Sn, 112Sn(γ,2n)110Sn, 112Sn(γ,3n)109Sn,112 Sn(γ,pn)110mIn, 112Sn(γ,pn)110g110In, 112Sn(γ,p2n)109In have been measured via the method of activation and off-line γ-ray spectrometric technique. The cross section per equivalent quantum of the 111In in photonuclear reaction was compared with its cross section in proton induced reaction on cadmium targets and other possible 111In production routes. It is shown that the photonuclear method can be used for the production of 111In.