Excitation functions of deuteron-induced nuclear reactions on erbium in the energy range of 4–24 MeV

Abstract

Excitation functions for the nat Er(d,x) 163,165,166,167,168,170 Tm and nat Er (d,x) 171 Er nuclear reactions were measured from the respective thresholds up to 24 MeV by using a stacked-foil activation technique combined with HPGe γ-ray spectrometry. Measured data show a partial agreement when compared with the available literature data, theoretical data extracted from the TENDL-2019 library, and predicted data by the model code EMPIRE-3.2.2. Estimated physical thick target yields of the reaction products show close values to the directly measured ones available in the literature. The deduced yield curves indicate that a typical irradiation (E d = 15 MeV, I d = 100 µA, t irr = 72 h) of enriched 167 Er target by a low energy deuteron cyclotron is suitable to obtain more than a hundred GBq activity of 167 Tm with negligible impurity from 168 Tm. Measured data of 170 Er(d,p) 171 Er reaction have great significance to improve the predicting capability of the model code.