Production cross sections of ${}^{nat}$Zn(α,x)${}^{68,69}$Ge,${}^{66,67}$Ga,${}^{65}$Zn reactions up to 46.3 MeV

Three medicinally important radioisotopes of Ga, ${}^{66,67,68}$ Ga, having half-lives ranging from minutes to days, could be produced from ${}^{nat}$Zn(α,x) reactions. They have different applications in diagnosis and therapy in nuclear medicine depending on their decay properties and half-lives. ${}^{68}$Ge (T${}_{1/2}$ = 270.95 days) produced from ${}^{nat}$Zn(α,x) reactions decays to ${}^{68}$Ga (T${}_{1/2}$ = 67.71 min) via electron capture (100%). So ${}^{68}$Ga can be produced for its practical application in medicine using ${}^{68}$Ge/${}^{68}$Ga generator where in-house medical cyclotron facilities are unavailable. Production and radiochemical separation of a particular radioisotope from natural zinc target with minimum contamination from other isotopes require accurate activation cross section data of all the produced radionuclides. Activation cross sections of long-lived radioisotopes of ${}^{68,69}$Ge, ${}^{66,67}$Ga and ${}^{65}$Zn produced from alpha irradiation of natural Zn targets were measured from their respective threshold up to 46.3 MeV. Using the experimentally measured cross section data and stopping power of natural Zn, thick target yields were calculated for these medicinally important radionuclides. The experimentally measured cross section data were compared with the earlier published literature data and theoretical data from TENDL-2021 nuclear data library based on the TALYS-1.96 code. Cross section data of the present work are found to be in good agreement with the literature data within experimental uncertainties for ${}^{68}$Ge, ${}^{66}$Ga and ${}^{65}$Zn while there are significant differences for ${}^{67}$Ga and ${}^{69}$Ge.