Beam Energy Calibrations for FN Tandem Accelerator Using Nuclear Monitor Reactions

This project focused on calibrating the accelerator beam energy at the LLNL Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (CAMS) through a method based on monitor reactions. The reactions ^natTi(d,x)⁴⁸V and ^natFe(d,x)⁵⁶Co were chosen due to their strong cross sections within the desired energy range and because their reaction products have half-lives and gamma-ray emissions suitable for detection within practical counting periods. Three separate foil stacks were irradiated with a deuteron beam at energies of 16 MeV, 13 MeV, and 10 MeV. Preliminary findings indicate that, at lower irradiation energies, the measured beam energies are generally slightly higher than the set values. At the highest energy, the results were inconsistent and showed no clear pattern. These variations may be caused by differences in foil thickness or uncertainties in the reference data. Moving forward, the project will explore alternative isotope ratios to enhance data accuracy, work on producing nuclear data with lower uncertainties, and evaluate other calibration techniques such as using the magnetic field data from historic run parameters to calculate an energy calibration.