Experiment-Based Determination Of The Excitation Function For The Production Of Ti-44 In Proton-Irradiated Vanadium Samples

In this paper, the excitation function utilizing the nuclear reaction V-nat(p,X) Ti-44 was determined. The seven investigated metallic vanadium disks were proton irradiated within an energy range of 111-954 MeV between 1995 to 1996. The experiments' cross sections were validated using two independent measurements by combining. spectrometry with both a low-energy germanium detector and a high-purity germanium detector. The maximum cross section was observed for energies of 145 +/- 1.2 and 150.2 +/- 1.2 MeV with values of 803 +/- 28 and 805 +/- 27 mu b, respectively. In this regard, it was demonstrated that our data were in good agreement with the former, however, unpublished results which were investigated over a similar energy range. Thus, combined with these earlier measurements, a consistent data set for the V-nat(p,X) Ti-44 excitation function from 111 to 1350 MeV is provided. Model calculations using Liege Intranuclear Cascade (INCL)/ABLA reproduce the shape of the excitation function correctly but overpredict the absolute values by factors of 2 to 3. Some considerations regarding this already earlier observed systematic overestimation of neutron-poor residues are given. The results will trigger new approaches in code development in order to improve the predictions.