  Cross sections of alpha particle induced nuclear reactions have been measured
on thin natural cadmium targets foils in the energy range from 11 to 51.2 MeV.
This work was a part of our systematic study on excitation functions of light
ion induced nuclear reactions on different target materials. Regarding the
cross sections, the alpha induced reactions are not deeply enough investigated.
Some of the produced isotopes are of medical interest, others have application
in research and industry. The radioisotope $^{117m}$Sn is a very important
theranostic (therapeutic + diagnostic) radioisotope, so special care was taken
to the results for that isotope. The well-established stacked foil technique
followed by gamma-spectrometry with HPGe gamma spectrometers were used. The
target and monitor foils in the stack were commercial high purity metal foils.
From the irradiated targets $^{117m}$Sn, $^{113}$Sn, $^{110}$Sn, $^{117m,g}$In,
$^{116m}$In, $^{115m}$In, $^{114m}$In, $^{113m}$In, $^{111}$In, $^{110m,g}$In,
$^{109m}$In, $^{108m}$In, $^{115g}$Cd and $^{111m}$Cd were identified and their
excitation functions were derived. The results were compared with the data of
the previous measurements from the literature and with the results of the
theoretical nuclear reaction model code calculations TALYS 1.8 (TENDL-2015) and
EMPIRE 3.2 (Malta). From the cross section curves thick target yields were
calculated and compared with the available literature data.
