Anomalous radioisotope production for ZnO using polyethylene by accelerator neutrons

Tsukada, Kazuaki; Nagai, Yasuki*; Hashimoto, Shintaro; Minato, Futoshi; Kawabata, Masako*; Hatsukawa, Yuichi*; Hashimoto, Kazuyuki*; Watanabe, Satoshi*; Saeki, Hideya*; Motoishi, Shoji*

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 89(3), p.034201_1 - 034201_7, 2020/03

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.89.034201

We found anomalously large yields of Ga, Ga, Zn and Cu by neutron irradiation on a ZnO sample in a polyethylene shield. Neutron beams are generated from the Be() reaction for 50 MeV deuterons. The yields obtained were more than 20 times larger than those in the unshielded sample. On the other hand, the yields of Ga, Ga, Zn and Cu from a metallic Zn sample and the yields of Cu, Ni and Zn from the ZnO and Zn samples were almost insensitive to the shield conditions. This finding would provide us a unique capability of accelerator neutrons to simultaneously produce a large amount of several radioisotopes, including proton induced reaction products, by using a single sample. The experimental data were compared with the yields estimated by using the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System and the result was discussed.