Production of 51Cr by deuteron activation of natural chromium

The investigation of the nuclear activation yield of natural chromium was dictated by the technological interest of the use of the thin layer activation technique for the study of surface performances of chromium based materials. For practical applications, 51Cr has been selected as tracing element. Three deuteron induced reactions lead to 51Cr in the energy range from 0 to 18 MeV: 50Cr(d,p)51Cr, 52Cr(d,p2n)51Cr and 50Cr(d,n)51Mn (51Mn→51Cr). The activation yield for the deuteron induced production of 51Cr as a function of the energy has been measured experimentally via the stacked-foil method using an energy variable cyclotron. To compute the energy incident on each foil and its distribution due to multiscattering effects, a Monte Carlo program has been elaborated, simulating the energy straggling of a particle beam passing through a stacked foil sample of given thickness and composition. The yield profile has also been calculated using two computer codes, STAPRE and ALICE. (orig.)