Refractory osmium targets for accelerator based nuclear activation experiments prepared by Pulsed Laser Deposition technique

Abstract This work is meant to respond the challenge of manufacturing osmium targets for nuclear astrophysics experiments using the activation method with alpha particles. In this context, PLD (Pulsed Laser Deposition) was used to prepare osmium targets without specks or wrinkles and with a very well defined and constant thickness. Characterization techniques as RBS (Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry), AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy), SEM/EDX (Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy) and XRD (X-ray Diffraction) were used to determine accurately the features of the obtained targets. The obtained results reveal that the PLD technique is suitable for the preparation of high quality thin/thick osmium targets.