First Radioisotope Implantations with the New Facility at the Australian Defence Force Academy

Radioisotopes have many important applications in areas such as nuclear medicine, environmental studies, material science, and solid state physics. In solid state physics Perturbed Angular Correlation (PAC) spectroscopy and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance on Oriented Nuclei (NMRON) are well established techniques for the study of electrical and magnetic properties of crystalline materials. In these techniques radioisotopes are introduced into the material which probe information about local electromagnetic fields. Ion implantation at low energy (< 1MeV) has many advantages over other techniques to introduce radioisotopes. A low energy (50-155 keV) radioisotope ion implanter is under development at the Australian Defence Force Academy to facilitate such work. In contrast to similar facilities overseas [1-2], this is the first time that a negative ion source is used. This offers the advantage of more versatility, since negative ions can be produced abundantly for many elements [3,4]. Recent test implantations have shown that 1 µCi of 111In is routinely achievable. • Mass resolution of better than 1 amu has been achieved for 1< A <135. • The source output is stable for long duration implantations. • Implantation of the radioisotope 111In has been demonstrated using 111InO- molecular ions. • An implanted activity of ~1 µCi has been achieved using 111InCl3 in solution to prepare the ion source cathode. • Measurements on the implanted samples have shown that the implanted activity is sufficient for PAC an