Cryogenic molecular separation system for radioactive 11C ion acceleration

A 11C molecular production/separation system (CMPS) has been developed as part of an isotope separation on line system for simultaneous positron emission tomography imaging and heavy-ion cancer therapy using radioactive 11C ion beams. In the ISOL system, 11CH4 molecules will be produced by proton irradiation and separated from residual air impurities and impurities produced during the irradiation. The CMPS includes two cryogenic traps to separate specific molecules selectively from impurities by using vapor pressure differences among the molecular species. To investigate the fundamental performance of the CMPS, we performed separation experiments with non-radioactive 12CH4 gases, which can simulate the chemical characteristics of 11CH4 gases. We investigated the separation of CH4 molecules from impurities, which will be present as residual gases and are expected to be difficult to separate because the vapor pressure of air molecules is close to that of CH4. We determined the collection/separation efficien...