A Thermal Sublimation Generator of 131mXe

K. Kulesz, Nikolay Azaryan, M. Baranowski, Mateusz Jerzy Chojnacki, U. Koster, Razvan Lica, Sorin Gabriel Pascu, Renaud Jolivet*, M. Kowalska*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Stable and unstable isotopes of the heavy noble gas xenon find use in various medical applications. However, apart from (Formula presented.) Xe, used for Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, radioactive isotopes of xenon are currently complicated to obtain in small quantities. With the GAMMA-MRI project in mind, we investigated a thermal sublimation generator of the long-lived excited state (isomer) (Formula presented.) Xe. This production method utilized the decay of (Formula presented.) I, obtained commercially from a hospital supplier in the form of Na (Formula presented.) I powder. Heat treatments of the Na (Formula presented.) I powder and cryogenic trapping of released (Formula presented.) Xe allowed us to collect up to 88% of the produced xenon. Our method provides an isomeric mixture of (Formula presented.) Xe and (Formula presented.) Xe. With improvements in scalability and chemical purification, this method could be a cost-effective source of (Formula presented.) Xe for small-scale experiments.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)76
JournalInstruments
Volume6
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Nov 2022

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