EFFECT OF RADIATION ON REACTIONS OF RECOIL CARBON-11 IN NITROGEN-OXYGEN SYSTEM

Highly energetic carbon-11 atoms were produced in nitrogen-oxygen gas mixtures using either the 10-MeV proton beam of the Brookhaven National Laboratory 60-in. cyclotron for the N14(p, α)C11 reaction or the 3-GeV proton beam of the Brookhaven National Laboratory cosmotron for the N14(p, 2p2n)C11 reaction. The primary products in their reactions with nitrogen and oxygen are C11N and C11O, respectively. The oxidation of these two products was studied as a function of the radiation energy dissipated by the proton beam in the system. It was shown that C11N was mostly oxidized to C11O2. The oxidation of C11O to C11O2 under these experimental conditions was found to be approximately a linear function of the radiation dose. The conversion decreased (at constant radiation dose) with the dose rate.