Positron Emission Particle Tracking and Other Applications of the Birmingham MC40 Cyclotron

摘要

Apart from its major role in medicine, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) can also be used to study industrial processes. For over 20 years the University of Birmingham has been using positron-emitting tracers to study a wide range of systems drawn from engineering and the physical sciences. To complement conventional PET imaging, the technique of positron emission particle tracking (PEPT) was developed, whereby a single labelled tracer particle can be tracked at high speed inside operating equipment. PEPT has been used to study a variety of phenomena involved in the flow and processing of granular materials, and more recently to study the flow of viscous fluids by means of neutrally-buoy ant tracer particles. Since early 2004 the radioisotopes for this work have been produced using a Scanditronix MC40 cyclotron, which was purchased second-hand from the VA Medical Center, Minneapolis in 2002 and installed at Birmingham during 2003. Radioisotopes including ~18F and ~61Cu are used to label single particles down to 100micrometres in diameter. The cyclotron is also being used for other isotope production, surface activation and radiation damage studies.