Work

Preparation and characterisation of 239Pu and 240Pu thin films as sources for 235mU and 236U recoil ions

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Recoil-ion sources of 239 Pu and 240 Pu, providing recoiling alpha-decay daughters 235m U and 236 U, were prepared by molecular plating. Microscopic and spectroscopic characterisation revealed thickness-dependent morphology, homogeneity, and activity distributions. Since neither recoil ion can be readily detected, 239 Pu sources spiked with 228 Th were also prepared, emitting easily detectable 224 Ra daughter ions. Geant4 simulations, validated against 224 Ra surrogate measurements, reproduce recoil escape efficiencies within ~ 3%. 239 Pu and 240 Pu recoil-ion sources with thicknesses of ~ 40–55 nm produce the highest recoil rate per unit area and best layer quality across the 24–108 nm thickness range.

Source: Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry

DOI: 10.1007/s10967-026-11025-5