Production of medical radioisotope ^(64)Cu by photoneutron reaction using ELI-NP γ-ray beam

Copper-64 is a radioisotope of medical interest that could be used for positron emission tomography imaging and targeted radiotherapy of cancer. In this work,we investigated the possibility of producing the^(64)Cu isotope through a^(65)Cu(γ,n) reaction using high-intensity γ-beams produced at the Extreme Light InfrastructureNuclear Physics facility(ELI-NP). The specific activity for^(64)Cu was obtained as a function of target geometry, irradiation time, and electron beam energy, which translates into γ-beam energy. Optimized conditions for the generation of^(64)Cu isotopes at the ELI-NP were discussed. We estimated that an achievable saturation specific activity is of the order of 1–2 m Ci/g for thin targets(radius 1–2 mm,thickness 1 cm) and for a γ-beam flux of 10^(11) s ~1. Based on these results, the ELI-NP could provide great potential for the production of some innovative radioisotopes of medical interest in sufficient quantities suitable for nuclear medicine research.

Current status and highlights of the ELI-NP research program

The emergence of a new era reaching beyond current state-of-the-art ultrashort and ultraintense laser technology has been enabled by the approval of around V 850 million worth of structural funds in 2011–2012 by the European Commission for the installation of Extreme Light Infrastructure(ELI).The ELI project consists of three pillars being built in the Czech Republic,Hungary,and Romania.This challenging proposal is based on recent technical progress allowing ultraintense laser fields in which intensities will soon be reaching as high as I0∼1023Wcm−2.This tremendous technological advance has been brought about by the invention of chirped pulse amplification by Mourou and Strickland.Romania is hosting the ELI for Nuclear Physics(ELI-NP)pillar in M˘agurele near Bucharest.The new facility,currently under construction,is intended to serve the broad national,European,and international scientific community.Its mission covers scientific research at the frontier of knowledge involving two domains.The first is laser-driven experiments related to NP,strong-field quantum electrodynamics,and associated vacuum effects.The second research domain is based on the establishment of a Compton-backscattering-based,high-brilliance,and intenseγbeam with Eγ≲19.5 MeV,which represents a merger between laser and accelerator technology.This system will allow the investigation of the nuclear structure of selected isotopes and nuclear reactions of relevance,for example,to astrophysics with hitherto unprecedented resolution and accuracy.In addition to fundamental themes,a large number of applications with significant societal impact will be developed.The implementation of the project started in January 2013 and is spearheaded by the ELI-NP/Horia Hulubei National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering(IFIN-HH).Experiments will begin in early 2020.

A data-based photonuclear simulation algorithm for determining specific activity of medical radioisotopes

For simulating more accurately neutron or proton production from photonuclear reactions,a data-based photonuclear reaction simulation algorithm has been developed.Reliable photonuclear cross sections from evaluated or experimental database are chosen as input data.For checking the validity of the use of the data-based photonuclear algorithm,benchmarking simulations are presented in detail.We calculate photonuclear cross sections or reaction yield for ~9Be,^(48)Ti,^(133)Cs,and ^(197)Au and compare them with experimental data in the region of incident photon energy below ~30 MeV.While Geant4 can hardly reproduce photonuclear experimental data,results obtained from the data-based photonuclear algorithm are found in good agreement with experimental measurements.Potential application in estimation of specific activity of radioisotopes is further discussed.We conclude that the developed data-based photonuclear algorithm is suitable for an accurate prediction of photoninduced neutron or proton productions.

Extreme brightness laser-based neutron pulses as a pathway for investigating nucleosynthesis in the laboratory

With the much-anticipated multi-petawatt(PW)laser facilities that are coming online,neutron sources with extreme fluxes could soon be in reach.Such sources would rely on spallation by protons accelerated by the high-intensity lasers.These high neutron fluxes would make possible not only direct measurements of neutron capture andβ-decay rates related to the r-process of nucleosynthesis of heavy elements,but also such nuclear measurements in a hot plasma environment,which would be beneficial for s-process investigations in astrophysically relevant conditions.This could,in turn,finally allow possible reconciliation of the observed element abundances in stars and those derived from simulations,which at present show large discrepancies.Here,we review a possible pathway to reach unprecedented neutron fluxes using multi-PW lasers,as well as strategies to perform measurements to investigate the r-and s-processes of nucleosynthesis of heavy elements in cold matter,as well as in a hot plasma environment.

Probing and possible application of the QED vacuum with micro-bubble implosions induced by ultra-intense laser pulses

The interaction of micro-bubbles with ultra-intense laser pulses has been shown to generate ultra-high proton densities and correspondingly high electric fields.Weinvestigate the possibility of using such a combination to study the fundamental physical phenomenon of vacuum polarization.With current or near-future laser systems,measurement of vacuum polarization via the bending of gamma rays that pass near imploded microbubbles may be possible.Since it is independent of photon energy to within the leading-order solution of the Heisenberg–Euler Lagrangian and the geometric optics approximation,the corresponding index of refraction can dominate the indices of refraction due to other effects at sufficiently high photon energies.We consider the possibility of its application to a transient gamma-ray lens.

A Pulsed Electromagnet for Laser Wakefield Electron Acceleration Experiments

Laser Wakefield plasma acceleration of electrons to energies above 10 GeV, may be possible in the new high power Laser beam facilities. The design of an Electron Spectrometer with an electro-magnet with adjustable magnetic field is proposed for the characterization of electron energy spectrum with a precision better than 10% for the entire energy range from 0.5 GeV to 38 GeV. The expected precision in the measurement of the electron energy is calculated as a function of the magnetic field, of the electron energy and of the magnet length. To outline the advantages offered by a pulsed electromagnet with high magnetic fields, the mass and the electric power lost in the coils of a 4 m long electromagnet with continuous current and Iron yoke are calculated.

Highly-collimated, high-charge and broadband MeV electron beams produced by magnetizing solids irradiated by high-intensity lasers

Laser irradiation of solid targets can drive short and high-charge relativistic electron bunches over micron-scale acceleration gradients.However,for a long time,this technique was not considered a viable means of electron acceleration due to the large intrinsic divergence(∼50°half-angle)of the electrons.Recently,a reduction in this divergence to 10°–20°half-angle has been obtained,using plasma-based magnetic fields or very high contrast laser pulses to extract the electrons into the vacuum.Here we show that we can further improve the electron beam collimation,down to∼1.5°half-angle,of a high-charge(6 nC)beam,and in a highly reproducible manner,while using standard stand-alone 100 TW-class laser pulses.This is obtained by embedding the laser-target interaction in an external,large-scale(cm),homogeneous,extremely stable,and high-strength(20 T)magnetic field that is independent of the laser.With upcoming multi-PW,high repetition-rate lasers,this technique opens the door to achieving even higher charges(>100 nC).

X-ray spectroscopy evidence for plasma shell formation in experiments modeling accretion columns in young stars

Recent achievements in laboratory astrophysics experiments with high-power lasers have allowed progress in our understanding of the early stages of star formation.In particular,we have recently demonstrated the possibility of simulating in the laboratory the process of the accretion of matter on young stars[G.Revet et al.,Sci.Adv.3,e1700982(2017)].The present paper focuses on x-ray spectroscopy methods that allow us to investigate the complex plasma hydrodynamics involved in such experiments.We demonstrate that we can infer the formation of a plasma shell,surrounding the accretion column at the location of impact with the stellar surface,and thus resolve the present discrepancies between mass accretion rates derived from x-ray and optical-radiation astronomical observations originating from the same object.In our experiments,the accretion column ismodeled by having a collimated narrow(1 mm diameter)plasma stream first propagate along the lines of a large-scale external magnetic field and then impact onto an obstacle,mimicking the high-density region of the stellar chromosphere.A combined approach using steady-state and quasi-stationarymodels was successfully applied tomeasure the parameters of the plasma all along its propagation,at the impact site,and in the structure surrounding the impact region.The formation of a hot plasma shell,surrounding the denser and colder core,formed by the incoming stream of matter is observed near the obstacle using x-ray spatially resolved spectroscopy.

Development of new diagnostics based on LiF detector for pump-probe experiments

We present new diagnostics for use in optical laser pump-X-ray Free Electron Laser(XFEL)probe experiments to monitor dimensions,intensity profile and focusability of the XFEL beam and to control initial quality and homogeneity of targets to be driven by optical laser pulse.By developing X-ray imaging,based on the use of an LiF crystal detector,we were able to measure the distribution of energy inside a hard X-ray beam with unprecedented high spatial resolution(~1 mm)and across a field of view larger than some millimetres.This diagnostic can be used in situ,provides a very high dynamic range,has an extremely limited cost,and is relatively easy to be implemented in pump-probe experiments.The proposed methods were successfully applied in pump-probe experiments at the SPring-8 Angstrom Compact free electron LAser(SACLA)XFEL facility and its potential was demonstrated for current and future High Energy Density Science experiments.

Detailed characterization of a laboratory magnetized supercritical collisionless shock and of the associated proton energization

Collisionless shocks are ubiquitous in the Universe and are held responsible for the production of nonthermal particles and high-energy radiation.In the absence of particle collisions in the system,theory shows that the interaction of an expanding plasma with a pre-existing electromagnetic structure(as in our case)is able to induce energy dissipation and allow shock formation.Shock formation can alternatively take place when two plasmas interact,through microscopic instabilities inducing electromagnetic fields that are able in turn to mediate energy dissipation and shock formation.Using our platform in which we couple a rapidly expanding plasma induced by high-power lasers(JLF/Titan at LLNL and LULI2000)with high-strength magnetic fields,we have investigated the generation of a magnetized collisionless shock and the associated particle energization.We have characterized the shock as being collisionless and supercritical.We report here on measurements of the plasma density and temperature,the electromagnetic field structures,and the particle energization in the experiments,under various conditions of ambient plasma and magnetic field.We have also modeled the formation of the shocks using macroscopic hydrodynamic simulations and the associated particle acceleration using kinetic particle-in-cell simulations.As a companion paper to Yao et al.[Nat.Phys.17,1177–1182(2021)],here we show additional results of the experiments and simulations,providing more information to allow their reproduction and to demonstrate the robustness of our interpretation of the proton energization mechanism as being shock surfing acceleration.

Zernike-coefficient extraction via helical beam reconstruction for optimization(ZEHBRO) in the far field

The spatial distribution of beams with orbital angular momentum in the far field is known to be extremely sensitive to angular aberrations,such as astigmatism,coma and trefoil.This poses a challenge for conventional beam optimization strategies when a homogeneous ring intensity is required for an application.We developed a novel approach for estimating the Zernike coefficients of low-order angular aberrations in the near field based solely on the analysis of the ring deformations in the far field.A fast,iterative reconstruction of the focal ring recreates the deformations and provides insight into the wavefront deformations in the near field without relying on conventional phase retrieval approaches.The output of our algorithm can be used to optimize the focal ring,as demonstrated experimentally at the 100 TW beamline at the Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics facility.

^(238)U(~9Be,5n)^(242)Cm熔合蒸发反应激发函数测量（英文）

第一次测量到^(238)U(~9Be,5n)^(242)Cm熔合蒸发反应的激发函数。通过使用叠层靶,在不改变束流能量的条件下,在线获得20个能量点下的实验数据。利用蒸发余核^(242)Cm的半衰期较长,且衰变模式是α衰变的特点,用离线测量α放射性的方法得到目标核产额。实验最大截面约1 mb,激发函数曲线的形态和峰值所在的能量位置与现有的理论模型的计算结果一致。激发函数的实验数据对选择和优化理论模型,推动超铀核区核物理研究具有重要的意义。

High precision nuclear mass predictions towards a hundred kilo-electron-volt accuracy

Mass is a fundamental property and an important fingerprint of atomic nucleus.It provides an extremely useful test ground for nuclear models and is crucial to understand energy generation in stars as well as the heavy elements synthesized in stellar explosions.Nuclear physicists have been attempting at developing a precise,reliable,and predictive nuclear model that is suitable for the whole nuclear chart,while this still remains a great challenge even in recent days.Here we employ the Fourier spectral analysis to examine the deviations of nuclear mass predictions to the experimental data and to present a novel way for accurate nuclear mass predictions.In this analysis,we map the mass deviations from the space of nucleon number to its conjugate space of frequency,and are able to pin down the main contributions to the model deficiencies.By using the radial basis function approach we can further isolate and quantify the sources.Taking a pedagogical mass model as an example,we examine explicitly the correlation between nuclear effective interactions and the distributions of mass deviations in the frequency domain.The method presented in this work,therefore,opens up a new way for improving the nuclear mass predictions towards a hundred kilo-electron-volt accuracy,which is argued to be the chaos-related limit for the nuclear mass predictions.

Accurate electron beam phase-space theory for ionization-injection schemes driven by laser pulses

After the introduction of the ionization-injection scheme in laser wake field acceleration and of related high-quality electron beam generation methods,such as two-color and resonant multi-pulse ionization injection(Re MPI),the theory of thermal emittance has been used to predict the beam normalized emittance obtainable with those schemes.We recast and extend such a theory,including both higher order terms in the polynomial laser field expansion and non-polynomial corrections due to the onset of saturation effects on a single cycle.Also,a very accurate model for predicting the cycle-averaged distribution of the extracted electrons,including saturation and multi-process events,is proposed and tested.We show that our theory is very accurate for the selected processes of Kr^(8+→10+) and Ar^(8+→10+),resulting in a maximum error below 1%,even in a deep-saturation regime.The accurate prediction of the beam phase-space can be implemented,for example,in laser-envelope or hybrid particle-in-cell(PIC)/fiuid codes,to correctly mimic the cycle-averaged momentum distribution without the need for resolving the intra-cycle dynamics.We introduce further spatial averaging,obtaining expressions for the whole-beam emittance fitting with simulations in a saturated regime,too.Finally,a PIC simulation for a laser wakefield acceleration injector in the Re MPI configuration is discussed.

Electron Acceleration by a radially polarised cosh-Gaussian laser beam in vacuum

In this paper,a radially polarised cosh-Gaussian laser beam(CGLB)is used to study the electron acceleration produced in vacuum.A highly energetic electron beam can be achieved by a CGLB,even with comparatively low-powered lasers.The properties of a CGLB cause it to focus earlier,over a shorter duration than a Gaussian laser beam,which makes it suitable for obtaining high energies over small durations.It is found that the energy gained by the electrons strongly depends upon the decentering parameter of the laser profile.It is also observed that for a fixed value of energy gain,if the decentering parameter is increased,then the intensity of the laser field decreases.The dependence of the energy gained by electrons on the laser intensity and the laserspot size is also studied.

Shape evolution of 72,74Kr with temperature in covariant density functional theory

The rich phenomena of deformations in neutron-deficient krypton isotopes, such as shape evolution with neutron number and shape coexistence, have attracted the interest of nuclear physicists for decades. It is interesting to study such shape phenomena using a novel way, e.g. by thermally exciting the nucleus. In this work, we develop the finite temperature covariant density functional theory for axially deformed nuclei with the treatment of pairing correlations by the BCS approach, and apply this approach for the study of shape evolution in 72,74Kr with increasing temperature. For 72Kr, with temperature increasing, the nucleus firstly experiences a relatively quick weakening in oblate deformation at temperature T-0.9 MeV, and then changes from oblate to spherical at T-2.1 MeV. For 74Kr, its global minimum is at quadrupole deformation β2--0.14 and abruptly changes to spherical at T-1.7 MeV. The proton pairing transition occurs at critical temperature 0.6 MeV following the rule Tc =0.6△p （0）, where △p（0） is the proton pairing gap at zero temperature. The signatures of the above pairing transition and shape changes can be found in the specific heat curve. The single-particle level evolutions with temperature are presented.

Quantum electrodynamics experiments with colliding petawatt laser pulses

A new generation of high power laser facilities will provide laser pulses with extremely high powers of 10 petawatt(PW)and even 100 PW, capable of reaching intensities of 1023 W/cm^2 in the laser focus. These ultra-high intensities are nevertheless lower than the Schwinger intensity IS= 2.3×1029 W/cm^2 at which the theory of quantum electrodynamics(QED) predicts that a large part of the energy of the laser photons will be transformed to hard Gamma-ray photons and even to matter, via electron–positron pair production. To enable the investigation of this physics at the intensities achievable with the next generation of high power laser facilities, an approach involving the interaction of two colliding PW laser pulses is being adopted. Theoretical simulations predict strong QED effects with colliding laser pulses of 10 PW focused to intensities 10^(22) W/cm^2.