Excitation Functions for Radioactive Isotopes Produced by Proton-Induced Reactions in Silicon

Abstract

Cross sections were measured for the production of radioactive nuclides by proton-induced reactions in natural silicon at bombarding energies below 60 MeV. Stacked wafers of target material were bombarded with cyclotron-accelerated protons. $\gamma$ spectra of individual foils were subsequently measured with a Ge(Li) spectrometer. Excitation functions were obtained for ${}_{}{}^{28}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Al}$, ${}_{}{}^{29}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Al}$, ${}_{}{}^{27}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Mg}$, ${}_{}{}^{22}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Na}$, ${}_{}{}^{24}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Na}$, ${}_{}{}^{18}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{F}$, and ${}_{}{}^7{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Be}$. Cross sections predicted by an evaporation theory are in reasonable agreement with the experimental values.