Theoretical Study of the Endogenous Production of N-13 in 115 kJ Plasma Focus Device Using Methane Gas

Mather type plasma focus device with the bank energy of 115 kJ (40 kV, 144μF) was studied for induced activity of N-13; a short-lived radioisotope β+ emitter with 511 keV of gamma rays and has a half-life of t1/2 = 9.93 min through 12C (d, n)13N nuclear reaction. N-13 radioisotope is used in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) for imaging and treatment. In this paper endogenous production of 13N is considered. It is shown by adding 3–4 % CH4 to the chamber, the induced activity of N-13 has increased about 4 %. Our study is representative of producing 106 − 109 Bq induced activity of this SLR in IR-MPF-100 device.