Development of uranium carbide targets for the on-line production of neutron-rich isotopes

A number of on-line and off-line tests have been performed at the IRIS (investigation of radioactive isotopes at synchrocyclotron) facility in order to develop uranium carbide targets with a high density (11 g/cm3) for the on-line production of neutron-rich isotopes by fission of 238U. A 1 GeV proton beam was used to bombard two kinds of targets held at temperatures in the range of 1900-2100 °C. The first one was a target-ion source assembly slightly modified to withstand 3 months of continuous heating at a temperature of about 2050 °C. The second unit was of a new kind, where ionisation takes place in the target volume itself. A comparison of the on-line isotopic yields before and after heating for 3 months is here reported. The yields and release times of Rb, Cs and In are compared with the ones obtained from a standard reference target, as measured in previous experiments.