Investigation of the Production of ¹⁵²Tb and ¹⁵⁵Tb Terbium Radioisotopes with Europium Targets

摘要: In recent years, terbium radioisotopes have been investigated for their potential therapeutic and diagnostic applications in nuclear medicine. This study aimed to investigate the production of ¹⁵²Tb and ¹⁵⁵Tb by alpha induced reaction in detail, with a specific focus on determining the optimum production parameters and testing existing nuclear models. Given the limited number of experiments conducted on reactions related to terbium isotope production, it is necessary to perform theoretical calculations of cross sections over a wide energy range in order to gain a detailed understanding of terbium isotope production. In order to achieve this objective, the cross sections of the ¹⁵¹Eu(α,n)¹⁵⁴Tb reactions were calculated up to 60 MeV using the TALYS computer code with 432 different combinations of optical model parameters, level density, and strength function models. The theoretical reaction cross section results were compared with the experimental results in the literature. The best input parameters were determined using the Threshold Logic Unit method and these parameters were used in all isotope production calculations. Once the optimal model combination had been determined, the total activity production and isotopic fraction of ¹⁵²Tb and ¹⁵⁵Tb isotopes were calculated in detail for beam energies of 17-50 MeV, different irradiation times, and varying ¹⁵¹Eu and ¹⁵³Eu target thicknesses.