Nuclear Isotope Production by Ordinary Muon Capture Reaction
Abstract
Muon capture isotope production (MuCIP) using negative ordinary muon capture reactions (OMC) is used to efficiently produce various kinds of nuclear isotopes for both fundamental and applied science studies. The large capture probability of muon into a nucleus, together with the high intensity muon beam, make it possible to produce nuclear isotopes in the order of 109-10 per second depending on the muon beam intensity. Radioactive isotopes (RIs) produced by MuCIP are complementary to those produced by photon and neutron capture reactions and are used for various science and technology applications. MuCIP on NatMo by using the RCNP MuSIC μon beam is presented to demonstrate the feasibility of MuCIP. Nuclear isotopes produced by MuCIP are evaluated by using a pre-equilibrium (PEQ) and equilibrium (EQ) proton neutron emission model. Radioactive 99Mo isotopes and the metastable 99mTc isotopes, which are used extensively in medical science, are produced by MuCIP on NatMo and 100Mo.