²³Ne production at SARAF-I

In this article, we present a measurement of flow rate, yield and effusion time of a Ne-23 production and transport system. We used an accelerator-driven Li(d,n) neutron source to produce neutrons up to 20 MeV. The radioactive atoms were produced by a Na-23(n,p) reaction at a NaCl target. Later, the atoms were diffused out from the NaCl crystals and effused from the production chamber via a 10 m hose to a measurement cell and their decay products were detected using High Purity Germanium (HPGe) and plastic scintillator detectors. The resulting flow rate was 6.9 +/- 0.7.10(atoms/sec)(4) and the total yield was 3.2 +/- 0.6.10(atoms/sec)(-9) We summarize our methods and estimates of efficiencies, rates of production and effusion.