Radioactive tracer such as a cell or tissue, or as a flow tracer to track fluid flow. Radioactive tracers are also used to determine the location of fractures created by hydraulic fracturing in natural gas production. Radioactive tracers form the basis of a variety of imaging systems, such as, PET scans, SPECT scans and technetium scans. Radiocarbon dating uses the naturally occurring carbon-14 isotope as an isotopic label. Isotopes of a chemical element differ only in the mass number. For example, the isotopes of hydrogen can be written as H, H and H, with the mass number at top left. When the
Isotope separation beams. As the production of radioactive atoms by the ISOL technique depends on the free atom chemistry of the element to be studied, there are certain beams which cannot be produced by simple proton bombardment of thick actinide targets. Refractory metals such as tungsten and rhenium do not emerge from the target even at high temperatures due to their low vapour pressure. In order to produce these types of beams, a thin target is required. The Ion Guide Isotope Separator On Line (IGISOL) technique was developed in 1981 at the University of Jyväskylä cyclotron laboratory in Finland. In this technique,