Investigation of direct production of 62CU radioisotope at low energy multiparticle accelerator for PET studies

Excitation functions were measured by the stacked-foil technique for 59Co(α,n)62Cu and 59Cu(α,2n)61Cu nuclear reactions up to 45 MeV. The excitation functions were compared with published data. The optimum energy range for the production of radio copper contamination free 62Cu is 15→6 MeV. The calculated thick target saturation yield of 62Cu in this energy interval was 9.34 mCi/μA at EOB (supposing three half-life [0.487 min] activation time). If <1% contamination level of 61Cu is acceptable at the time of administration, the practical 62Cu yield can be increased using higher bombarding energy. According to our calculations the optimum energy range for the production of 62Cu was found to be 18.5→6 MeV. The calculated yield of 62Cu in this energy window was 1.9 mCi/μA (16.2 mCi/μA at EOB) supposing 0.487 h irradiation and 0.5 h cooling times. (author)