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A self-supporting target of monoisotopic, metallic lanthanide can be considered ideal due to the absence of interfer-ing elements that could disturb a nuclear physics experiment. Unfortunately, the majority of elements in the lantha-nide series are not monoisotopic. Experiments rely therefore on enriched lanthanides, typically available in the form of oxides. The enriched oxide material must therefore be reduced in order to produce metallic lanthanide thin films. For this purpose, the metallothermic reduction evaporation is the method of choice, having been proven by target makers worldwide over the past six decades [1-4].
This work focuses on the implementation of the metallothermic reduction evaporation method at GSI for the produc-tion of thin, metallic lanthanide targets on different backings. Different lanthanide oxides were tested and their reduc-tion yields compared, applying hafnium as the reducing agent. In addition, the effect of the amount of reducing met-al on the yield is discussed for the case of samarium.
[1] L. Westgaard et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods, 42, 77-80 (1966).
[2] E. H. Kobisk et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods, 167, 153-160 (1979).
[3] R. Pengo et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods, A303, 146-151 (1991).
[4] J. P. Greene et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods, B61, 575-579 (1991).