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Half-life of Cu-67
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Half-life of Cu-67

Michael J. Merrick, David A. Rotsch, Ashok Tiwari, Jerry Nolen, Thomas Brossard, Jeongseog Song, Thaddeus J. Wadas, John J. Sunderland and Stephen A. Graves
JOURNAL OF PHYSICS COMMUNICATIONS, Vol.5(8), 085007
08/01/2021
DOI: 10.1088/2399-6528/ac1ad8
url
https://doi.org/10.1088/2399-6528/ac1ad8View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

The half-life of Cu-67 was determined through serial gamma-ray spectrometry measurements of the dominant gamma emission (E (gamma) : 184.6 keV; branching ratio: 48.7%) produced following beta- decay. Data were collected consecutively for 1000 s per measurement, with a total of 3063 measurements over the duration of 36 days. The incidence rate for the 184.6 keV gamma-ray was determined from the spectral peak area and duration of each measurement. This rate was then corrected to account for detector dead-time, radioactive decay during each acquisition and drift in the computer clock in comparison to NIST nuclear clock. Least-squares regression analysis was performed to determine the half-life of Cu-67. The result was 61.761 +/- 0.004 h, which is the highest precision measurement to date, and marks a 24-fold precision improvement over the current Nuclear Data Sheets value.
Physical Sciences Physics Physics, Multidisciplinary Science & Technology

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