Activation cross-sections of deuteron induced reactions on natGd up to 50 MeV

•Deuteron induced reactions on natural gadolinium up to 50 MeV Stacked foil irradiation.•Comparison of experimental results with the ALICE, EMPIRE and TALYS theoretical codes.•Calculation and comparison of thick target integral yields of different radio-isotopes.•Comparison of the production routes of 153Gd.

Activation cross-sections are presented for the first time for natGd(d,xn)161,160,156(m+), 154,154m1,154m2,153,152(m+),151(m+)Tb, natGd(d,x)159,153,151Gd and natGd(d,x)156Eu reactions from their respective thresholds up to 50 MeV. The cross-sections were measured by the stacked-foil irradiation technique and by using high resolution γ-ray spectrometry. The measured values were compared with the results of theoretical models calculated by the computer codes ALICE-D, EMPIRE-D and TALYS (data from TENDL library). Integral yields of the reaction products were deduced from the excitation functions.