Formation of 60Cu and 61Cu via Co+3He reactions up to 70 MeV: production possibility of 60Cu for PET studies

Excitation functions for 60 Cu and 61 Cu radioactive nuclei produced in 3 He bombardment of 59 Co up to 70 MeV has been measured using the stacked-foil activation technique. The experimental cross-sections of the 59 Co( 3 He,2n) 60 Cu and 59 Co( 3 He,n) 61 Cu nuclear reactions were compared with published literature data. Our yield calculations with respect to the application of the above reactions for practical production of 60 Cu showed that around 3.1 mCi/μA 60 Cu yield is available at EOB in the energy range 26 → 10 MeV (supposing one half-life of 60 Cu activation time). Unfortunately, the level of 61 Cu impurity increases continuously after EOB (1.4% at EOB), but remains around 4% even at the end of a PET study (supposing one half-live cooling (processing) time and around 20 min counting time with PET). On the bases of the present work the Co + 3 He route seems to be a good candidate for routine production of 60 Cu even with a low energy multiparticle cyclotron.