Targetry for the in-beam activation of tracer particles for positron emission particle tracking

¹ Metrological and Applied Sciences University Research Unit, Department of Physics, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
² iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator Based Sciences (iThemba LABS), Cape Town, South Africa

^* Corresponding author: Tom.Leadbeater@uct.ac.za

Published online: 22 June 2023

Abstract

Positron emission particle tracking measures the trajectory of a single radioactively labelled tracer particle by coincident detection of emitted annihilation photons. The technique enables the non-invasive study of dense opaque flows, with the tracer acting as a small neutrally buoyant flow-follower. The University of Cape Town has established a PEPT facility at iThemba LABS, utilising tracer particles produced through radiochemical methods, and measured using adapted positron tomographs. An activation approach producing the positron emitter ¹⁸F inside glass target spheres of diameter between 5.0 and 10 mm using accelerated beams of alpha-particles has been explored. The reaction ¹⁶O(O, x)¹⁸F is used, exploiting the high concentration of natural oxygen and the correspondingly high cross-sections for ¹⁸F formation. A standard target holder for the batch production of radionuclides at iThemba LABS was modified, reducing the entrance window thickness, allowing ingress of circulating cooling water, and adapted for a primary tparticle beam of 100 MeV energy delivered by the separated sector cyclotron (SSC) of iThemba LABS. Two-hour bombardment at nominal beam current 0.8 eµA produced activities up to ~ 110 MBq (3 mCi), with over 95% of the activity being ¹⁸F.