Laser generation of proton beams for the production of short-lived positron emitting radioisotopes

Abstract Protons of energies up to 37 MeV have been generated when ultra-intense lasers (up to 10 20 W cm −2 ) interact with hydrogen containing solid targets. These protons can be used to induce nuclear reactions in secondary targets to produce β+-emitting nuclei of relevance to the nuclear medicine community, namely 11C and 13N via (p, n) and (p,α) reactions. Activities of the order of 200 kBq have been measured from a single laser pulse interacting with a thin solid target. The possibility of using ultra-intense lasers to produce commercial amounts of short-lived positron emitting sources for positron emission tomography (PET) is discussed.

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