Radiotracers from heavy-ion fragmentation

The advent of high energy heavy-ion accelerators has introduced the new mechanism of projectile fragmentation for the production of radiotracers. Projectile fragmentation occurs when the heavy-ion projectile has a sufficient velocity to undergo a strong interaction with a target nucleus without being deflected very much from its initial trajectory. The fragmentation of 14N beams from the K 500 superconducting cyclotron at Michigan State is described, a 490 MeV 14N beam was fragmented in a beryllium foil and the reaction products are stopped in (liquid) water. The water provides an additional source of 13N through fragmentation of 16O, facilitates the conversion of 13N atoms to labeled nitrate and allows the rapid transfer of the source out of the accelerator vault. (orig.)