Measurement of proton induced thick target γ-ray yields on B, N, Na, Al and Si from 2.5 to 4.1 MeV

Thick target yields for proton induced gamma-ray emission (PIGE) on low-Z nuclei, namely B, N, Na, AI and Si, were measured for proton energies from 2.5 to 4.1 MeV and emission angles of 0 degrees, 45 degrees and 90 degrees, at the 3 MV Tandetron laboratory of INFN-LABEC in Florence. The studied reactions were: B-10(p,alpha'gamma)Be-7 (E-gamma = 429 keV), B-10(p,p'gamma)B-10 (E-gamma = 718 keV) and B-11(p,p'gamma)B-11 (E-gamma = 2125 key) for boron; N-14(p,p'gamma)N-14 (E-gamma = 2313 keV) for nitrogen; Na-23(p,p'gamma)Na-23 (E-gamma = 441 and 1636 keV) and Na-23(p,alpha'gamma)Ne-20 (E-gamma = 1634 keV) for sodium; Al-27(p,p'gamma)Al-27 (E-gamma = 844 and 1014 keV) and Al-27(p,alpha'gamma)Mg-24 (E-gamma = 1369 keV) for aluminum; Si-28(p,p'gamma)Si-28 (E-gamma = 1779 keV) and Si-29(p,p'gamma)Si-29 (E-gamma = 1273 keV) for silicon. The PIGE thick target yields have been measured with an overall uncertainty typically better than 10%. The use of the measured thick target yield to benchmark and validate experimental cross sections available in the literature is demonstrated. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.