Questions on synthesizing Fluorine 18

[Strat-O]

I have a couple questions but first some background:

Fluorine 18 is used in PET scans as a beta+ emitter. Generally it is created with an 11-18 MeV cyclotron by bombarding Oxygen 18 with protons. I read a paper that said there was an alternative way to produce F 18 by the NEON-20(DEUTERON, ALPHA)FLUORINE-18 reaction that only requires about 1-3 MeV. My question is, are there other ways that any of you know of to transmute a relatively stable isotope into F 18 by, say neutron bombardment?

Another question:
If you wrap Americium 241 with Beryllium foil you create a neutron source that gives off about 5 MeV neutrons. What's neat about that is it's all passive--nothing to plug in, it just works. Is there a way that you can create a Deuteron emitter that works just as simply?

Thanks!

Marlin

 

[minerva]

Natural, stable F is ¹⁹F. ¹⁸F has one less neutron for that number of protons, which is why it decays by positron emission. Because it's on the neutron-poor side of the line of optimal stability, you really can't produce it by irradiating a target material with neutrons.

A deuteron is quite an unstable nucleus - it has relatively low binding energy per nucleon, which is why it likes to react with other light nuclei in reactions such as D-D and D-T fusion, for example.

Because it's relatively weakly bound, it's very unlikely to be found as the product of a nuclear reaction, analogous to the ⁹Be(alpha, n)¹²C reaction that goes on inside an alpha-Be neutron source.

To make a source of energetic deuterons, you ionise deuterium gas within the ion source of a particle accelerator such as a cyclotron, just as you would with unenriched hydrogen if you were using a proton beam.

 

[Strat-O]

Thank you Minerva. Looks like good info.

Marlin