• E. Syresin, D.E. Donets, E.D. Donets, E.E. Donets, V.V. Salnikov, V.B. Shutov
  JINR, Dubna, Moscow Region
• T. Honma, M. Kanazawa, K. Noda
  NIRS, Chiba-shi

The 11C isotopes are produced in the nitrogen gas target irradiated by a proton beam. If the nitrogen target contains 5% of hydrogen, about 5·E12 methane molecules can be produced each 20 minutes. The separated methane is loaded into the ion source. The technique used for formation of radioactive carbon beams was developed and tested in the JINR electron string ion source (ESIS) Krion-2. The measured conversion efficiency of methane molecules to carbon ions is rather high; it corresponds to 17 % for C⁴⁺ ions. The experimentally obtained C⁴⁺ ion intensity in ESIS was about 2·E9 ppp. The new ESIS-5T is under construction in JINR now at project ion intensity of 6·E9 ppp. Accelerated 12C ion beams are effectively used for cancer treatment at HIMAC. The positron emission tomography is the most effective way of tumor diagnostics. The intensive radioactive 11C ion beam could allow both these advantages to be combined. It could be used both for cancer treatment and for on-line PET. Formation of a primary radioactive ion beam at an intensity on the tumor target of 1·E8 pps allows the cancer treatment by the scanning radiation method and on-line dose verification.