Excitation functions for proton-induced reactions on natural hafnium: Production of 177Lu for medical use

There is an increasing interest in using radioisotopes of rare earth elements for internal radiotherapy and for imaging in nuclear medicine. 177Lu is one of the promising radionuclides. This article reports on the first measurements of the excitation function for the production of 177Lu with proton-beam energies up to 17 MeV on natural hafnium targets. The experimental cross sections for the reaction natHf(p,x)177Lu were obtained by the activation of a stacked-foil target and subsequent gamma spectrometry. Theoretical cross sections were calculated up to 35 MeV with the EMPIRE nuclear reaction model code. The measured and calculated cross sections were used for deriving the thick-target yields and for estimating the production of other nuclides than 177Lu. Measured production cross sections of 175,176,177,178Ta on the same target are also presented.