Production of Radioactive Nuclei

Proton rich radioactive nuclei are produced through fusion-evaporation reactions between light ion beams (¹H, ²H, ³He and ⁴He) from the ORIC cyclotron and stable target atoms which are selected to produce the desired radioactive species. 

Neutron rich radioactive nuclei are produced through fission of actinide targets bombarded with protons from the ORIC cyclotron. 

Radioactive ion beams (RIBs) generated by fusion-evaporation reactions through (y,zxn) processes (y={p, d, ³He or a} and z={p or a }) have cross-sections of 1-100 mb which for 1-2 g/cm² thick targets corresponds to production rates of ~10^-3-10^-5 radioactive nuclei per incident ion. This figure shows a table of nuclei which are accessible through these reactions.

Fission of actinide targets can produce a wide variety neutron rich species with production rates as high as ~10^-4 radioactive nuclei per incident proton. The figure shows calculated rates of production from bombardment of 40 MeV protons on ²³⁸U.

Since many target materials can only withstand several μA of ORIC beam, total radioactive atom production rates tend to be ~10⁸ -10¹¹ radioactive atoms per second.