Production of the mercury-197 through proton induced reaction on gold.

Abstract The excitation function of the proton exchange reactions on gold was investigated in the energy range from threshold up to 20 MeV. We presented our experimental results upto 14 MeV stacked-foil technique was used, the target was of high purity gold foils (99.99%.) Reactions cross-sections and excitation functions were studied. Both isomeric level cross sections of 197 Hg were measured and calculated theoretically using the DDHMS routine of the EMPIRE-II (v2.19) code. Isomeric cross-section ratios for the pair 197 m , g Hg were calculated and presented as a function of proton energy.