Production of medical radioisotopes 51 Cr, 62,64 Cu, and 99 m Tc by laser-induced photonuclear reactions*

Abstract Laser-driven bremsstrahlung photon sources offer a promising approach to producing medical radioisotopes by photonuclear reactions. In this work, we report new activation measurements of nat Cr, nat Cu, and nat Ru using laser-driven bremsstrahlung at Peking University’s Compact Laser Plasma Accelerator laboratory. The 200 TW laser was utilized with a 0.2 Hz repetition frequency. Activities of 2.27 Bq for 51 Cr, 5110 Bq for 62 Cu, 53.9 Bq for 64 Cu, and 16.4 Bq for 99 m Tc are achieved after irradiation for 20−30 min, using targets with a thickness of 2 mm. These crucial data, together with dedicated Monte Carlo simulations, enable a realistic evaluation to address the increasing demand in nuclear medicine. It is found that utilizing a repetition frequency of 100 Hz for the 200 TW laser and 10-cm-thick targets can satisfy the clinical diagnostic requirements of a typical activity of MBq for the isotopes of interest.