Study of activation cross sections of proton induced reactions on erbium for practical applications

Abstract Excitation functions of the nat Er(p,x) 163,166,167,168,170 Tm and nat Er(p,x) cum161 Er reactions were measured experimentally from the respective threshold up to 36 MeV incident proton energy and in the range of 60–70 MeV. The cross sections were measured with activation method using the stacked foil irradiation technique. A theoretical interpretation of contributing reactions based on results of the ALICE-IPPE code was done. From our experimental cross section data integral production yields were calculated which were compared to the experimental integral yield data reported in the literature.