Production of a high purity F radioactive beam

An efficient method for the production and post-acceleration of a pure ¹⁸F(T_1/2=109.8 min) radioactive beam has been developed. Large amounts of ¹⁸F are produced via the ¹⁸O(p,n)¹⁸F reaction using a 15.5 MeV proton beam on an ¹⁸O-enriched water target. After the chemical purification of the target content, the ¹⁸F activity is transferred into ¹⁸F]-fluoromethane. It is then transported to an ECR ion source, where after dissociation of the molecules, the fluorine atoms are ionized. Finally, the ¹⁸F²⁺ ions are accelerated to 14 MeV in a second cyclotron. The different steps in the production cycle and the characteristics of the final ¹⁸F beam are discussed.