What question did this study set out to answer?

This study aims to explore the production of radioisotopes through the interaction of 20Ne beams with aluminium foils.

June 3, 2026

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Key Points

This study aims to explore the production of radioisotopes through the interaction of 20Ne beams with aluminium foils.
Irradiation of eight aluminium foils with a 20Ne beam at energies up to 166 MeV.
Measurement of production cross sections for radioisotopes including 43,44Sc and 41Ar.
Separation of no-carrier-added 43,44Sc from bulk aluminium using liquid-liquid extraction.
Production of radioisotopes such as 43,44Sc, 41Ar, and others was successfully achieved.
A high separation factor of >12,000 was attained for 43,44Sc using the HDEHP/HCl extraction method.
This method presents a cost-effective alternative for clinically important scandium radioisotope production.

Abstract

Ultrapure aluminium foils are commonly used behind targets either as a degrader foil or for target-backing in nuclear physics experiments. Interaction of projectile with the aluminium foil is most likely to interfere with the radioisotopes produced by target-projectile interaction. In this study, eight aluminium foils were irradiated with 20Ne beam upto 166 MeV and the production cross section of the produced radioisotopes such as 43,44Sc, 41Ar, 34m,38Cl, etc., were measured. This experiment marked an alternate and cost-effective production route for the clinically important scandium radioisotopes. No-carrier-added 43,44Sc radioisotopes were selectively separated from bulk Al target and co-produced 24Na by liquidliquid extraction technique using Di-2-(ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (HDEHP)/HCl combination with a high separation factor >12,000.

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