Photonuclear reactions induced by a clinical linac

The use of a clinical linac in photonuclear experiments is a novel concept. At Akdeniz University a program has been started focused on inducing photonuclear reactions with a Philips SLI-25 clinical linac. A bremsstrahlung photon beam produced by the linac is used to create radioactive nuclei. The decay of said nuclei is observed with a high-purity germanium detector. During the course of the experiment the spectrum of the irradiated sample is recorded. By analyzing the spectrum the energies of gamma-ray transitions in the daughter nuclei as well as the half-life of the parent nucleus are obtained. The results obtained thus far, starting with Zinc nuclei will be presented.