A study of the reaction 55Mn(p,4n)52Fe: excitation function and medical applications

The present study concerns the medical applications and production of 52Fe via the reaction 55Mn(p,4n)52Fe together with the reference reaction 27Al(p,x)22Na employed in cross section measurements. Experimental excitation functions from threshold up to 200 MeV are compared with the predictions of the TALYS 1.95 code and the semi-empirical formulas SPACS and Silberberg & Tsao. We obtained two TALYS parameter sets for the 55Mn(p,4n)52Fe and 27Al(p,x)22Na reactions which give a good description of the excitation functions for energies up to 85 MeV. Discrepancies observed at higher energies require further investigation. The semi-empirical formulas provide a good description of the excitation functions above 120 MeV.