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Tc-99m production with ultrashort intense laser pulses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2014

V. Yu. Bychenkov
Affiliation:
P. N. Lebedev Physics Institute, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia Centre for Fundamental and Applied Research, VNIIA, ROSATOM, Moscow, Russia
A. V. Brantov*
Affiliation:
P. N. Lebedev Physics Institute, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia Centre for Fundamental and Applied Research, VNIIA, ROSATOM, Moscow, Russia
G. Mourou
Affiliation:
DGAR-IZEST, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau Cedex, France
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: A. V. Brantov, P. N. Lebedev Physics Institute, Russian Academy of Science, Leninskii Prospect 53, Moscow 119991, Russia. E-mail: brantov@sci.lebedev.ru

Abstract

The interaction of a relativistic short laser pulse with thin foil is studied using 3D PIC simulations in the context of optimized high-energy proton generation for nuclear medicine and pharmacy. As an example, we analyze the Tc-99m yield from the Mo-100(p,2n)Tc-99m reaction with the International Coherent Amplification Network (ICAN) concept defined by a 10 J pulse energy and 10 kHz repetition rate. Based on 3D PIC simulation it has been demonstrated that normally incident 100 fs laser pulse with maximum intensity of 5 × 1021 W/cm2 is able to generate 1011 protons with energy upto 45 MeV from thin semi-transparent CH2 target. Such laser-produced proton beam after 6 hours bombardment of the thick metallic Mo-100 target gives around 300 Gbq activities of Tc-99m isotope. This gives reason to believe that laser technology for producing technetium is possible with ICAN concept to replace the traditional scheme through the fission of weapons-grade uranium.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 
Figure 0

Table 1. Laser parameters under considereation

Figure 1

Fig. 1. Maximum proton energy vs. target thickness for different laser pulse focal spots: d = 4 µm (small black dots, case 1), d = 6 µm (medium black dots, case 2), and d = 10 µm (large black dots, case 3); grey dots correspond to a 5 J laser pulse focused into a 4 µm hot spot (case 4).

Figure 2

Fig. 2. Spectra of protons accelerated from the target with optimum thickness (left panel) and from a target with the thickness l = 0.02λ (right panel): d = 4 µm (solid curves), d = 6 µm (dashed curves), and d = 10 µm (dotted curves). The corresponding optimum thicknesses are l0 = 0.07λ, l0 = 0.05λ, and l = 0.02λ. The grey line shows the proton spectra for a 5 J laser pulse focused into a 4 μm hot spot (l0 = 0.04λ).

Figure 3

Table 2. The Tc-99m production versus irradiation condition and target thickness