12th International Beam Instrumentation Conference

An Experimental Setup for PIXE Analysis in a Medical Cyclotron at TENMAK-NUKEN
TU1C03

Dr. Görkem Türemen
Dr. Serdar Bulut, Dr. Ümit Kaya, Dr. Dilaver Porsuk, N. Öykü Serin, Emin Yeltepe
12 SEP 2023

Outline
TENMAK-NUKEN Proton Accelerator Facility

Motivation
Experimental setup
Measurements
OutlookAnkara/Türkiye

2Motivation
Analysis for•

Historical artifacts•

Forensic science•

Heritage science•

Semi-conductor technology•

Environmental science•

Minerals exploration•Plant and animal biology•

Medicine, etc.

XRFPIXE
DOI: 10.1201/b17310-16

No facility in Türkiye for non-destructive IBA methods
Our country,•19 UNESCO World Heritage Sites•

cradle to a multitude of civilizations throughout history
DOI: 10.1051/978-2-7598-2091-7.c009

IAEA-TECDOC-1190

3

Proton Accelerator Facility
IBA S.A. proton cyclotron
15-30 MeV / 0.1-1.2 mA
4 irradiation vaults
No. of personnel: ~30 (Phys., Chem.,Biol., Eng., Tech.)

SolidGas

Radiopharmaceuticals/Radioisotope
production (4 licenced products)
Liquid• NaI123, TlCl201 (active production)• Ge68, Co57 (R&D phase)

R&D

R&D studies• radiation damage• non-destructive analysis, etc.

4

Irradiation setup
Installed at the end of the R&D beamline (2 quadrupole doublets, 2 steerers, 4 FCs, 2 beam screens, 4-jaw collimator, etc.)
Two different degrader systems (single and multi)
In-vacuum and in-air irradiation capability
2-30 MeV, 5 pA-20 μA

doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2020.164290

5

Irradiation chamber
Octagonal shaped aluminum vacuum chamber
16 vacuum-tight ports
4 different samples can be irradiated in a single run by a servo motor
Ports for PIXE, PIGE and RBS detectors and cabling

Sampleholder

SiLiCollimator

Beam screen

6

Control system & automation
Beamline equipment•

Degraders, detectors, screens (pneumatically) and sample holder (servo motor)•Measurement and pumping systems

are controlled remotely by PLC.

PLC HMI

7

Energy degrader (single)

x550 reduction for gamma/neutron
dose rate/uA

Pyrolytic graphite foil set (total: 1.3 mm)Aluminum flanges for collimation (less radioactivity)
Copper blocks for cooling (welded Cu pipe)
Mounted on the FC box just after beam extraction

R&D vault

Degradation down to 3 MeV is possible
Copper block

BeamGraphitefoils

Aluminum collimators

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Energy degrader (multi)
Individually controlled copper degraders (maximum total thickness: 0.45 mm)
Aluminum collimator (15 mm aperture) for each degrader foil
Conduction cooling, no active component
Inserted just after the 5-port magnet in the R&D vault
Degradation down to 5 MeV

9Beam energy measurement (SiLi)
Si(Li) detector with 5 mm thickness & 500 mm2 active area, 55 keV FWHM
Detects up to 30 MeV protons
2003BT Pre-amplifier & DSA-LX multi-channel analyzer & Genie software (Mirion)
Calibrated with a multi-alpha source (4-6 MeV)

10

Beam size measurement
In-house produced Al2O3 screen (φ: 40 mm)
45° with the axis of the beam
Beam is shaped with collimators with different sizes (1, 10 and 25 mm)%90 intensity homogeneity (for 8 mm beam)

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Current measurement-HVproton
electroncollector

4-jaw collimator & 2 Faraday Cups
5 channel I-V converter with a microcontroller for collimator current

signalKeithley 6482 Picoammeter for FC2 current
Down to 5 pA and 10 pA SD at 1 nA’s.

Electron suppressor

by adjusting arc voltage of the ion source

80 V82 V70 V57 V

doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2020.164290

140 V45 V12Irradiation setup for IBA analysis
SDD (Rayspec), 133 eV FWHM at 5.895 keV with 40 mm2 active area and 8 μm Be window for PIXE
HPGe n-type (Mirion), 2.1 keV FWHM at 1332 keV and % 30 relative efficiency with carbon-fiber endcap for PIGE
PIPS (Ortec), 19 keV FWHM at 5.486 MeV with 150 mm2 active area and 500 μm depletion depth for RBS
Mirion and Ortec pre-amplifiers for signal management
CAEN and Mirion MCA’s for digitization
Quantus, Genie and GUPIX softwares for spectroscopy and analysis
FCSample holder

HPGe
Si(Li)

SDD

13

3.2 MeV protons 7 nA current

1000 1000

100100100

1010101
345678910111213141516Energy [keV]

Cu-Kβ1

Νi-Kβ1

Cu-Kα1

mixPIXE
foil PIXEmix foil

Fe-Kβ1Fe-Kβ1Fe-Kβ1

1000010000

Cu-Kβ1
Νi-Kβ1Ni-Kα1100000
1000001000

2Cu-Kα
Ni-Kα11

Counts [#]Counts [#]6Mn-Kα1
Mn-Kβ1Fe-Kα1
Mn-Kα1Mn-Kβ1
Fe-Kα1

Νi-Kβ161x10 1x10

Cu-Kβ1

10000010000

mix foil PIXE

Cu-Kα1Ni-Kα11x106

Mn-Kα1Mn-Kβ1Fe-Kα1Counts [#]Preliminary PIXE analysis

1122 3

3 4

4 5

5 6

6 7

7 8

8 9

9 10

10 11

11 12

12 13

13 14

14 15

15 16

16Energy
Energy[keV][keV]

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Preliminary PIXE experiments2Lithium borate PIGE test spectrum

3.2 MeV 2.7 nA16

Planned modifications
Decreasing background:•Putting an X-ray absorber/filter to suppress low energy X-rays•

Using detector collimators (low Z) to avoid scattered radiation•

Coating the inside of the chamber for decreasing secondary particles arriving on the detector•

Applying magnetic field to deflect scattered particles from the sample

Increasing precision of the analysis:•More elaborate peak fitting procedures•

Detailed uncertainty budget calculations•

Developing a 3D sample movement apparatus

Decrease the energy spread:•Moving the system to the 40° port of the 5-port magnet and let the beam passing through a slit•

Performing beam dynamics studies to determine the required magnetic field for the quadrupoles

Increasing the accuracy and precision of charge measurement•

Putting all components of the measurement system inside the vault

17Outlook
It is an ongoing work
Planning to set-up a station for in-air PIXE
Communication with national and international partners and stakeholders
Standardizing the IBA methods
Participating in proficiency tests and comparisons
Providing ion beam analysis services
Ottoman archives

Göbeklitepe archeological site

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THANK YOU!