Radioactive Rh wire as a source for new nanomaterials

In this paper, we address the experimental details of a radioactive evaporation source that can potentially be used to produce X-rays radioactive devices at a nanometer scale. The source consists of Rh wire that has been irradiated in a 14 MeV cyclotron. A 22 keV X-ray emitter results from the 103Rh(p,n)103Pd nuclear reaction. 103Pd is currently widely used in brachytherapy. Thanks to physical differences in evaporation and melting temperature but also diffusion coefficients between 103Pd and 103Rh, 103Pd is extracted from the raw material by dry distillation at high temperature (1000–1470 °C) and under vacuum (2×10−5 mbar). Spectroscopic gamma analysis of the raw material and atoms condensed on the substrates are presented. Diffusion coefficients are also deduced.