Resonant laser ionization and mass separation of < /SUP>225< //SUP>Ac

Johnson, Jake D; Heines, Michael; Bruchertseifer, Frank; Chevallay, Eric; Cocolios, Thomas E; Dockx, Kristof; Duchemin, Charlotte; Heinitz, Stephan; Heinke, Reinhard; Hurier, Sophie; Lambert, Laura; Leenders, Benji; Skliarova, Hanna; Stora, Thierry; Wojtaczka, Wiktoria

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-28299-4

Resonant laser ionization and mass separation of < /SUP>225< //SUP>Ac

Author:

Johnson, Jake D

Heines, Michael ; Bruchertseifer, Frank ; Chevallay, Eric ; Cocolios, Thomas E ; Dockx, Kristof ; Duchemin, Charlotte ; Heinitz, Stephan ; Heinke, Reinhard ; Hurier, Sophie ; Lambert, Laura ; Leenders, Benji ; Skliarova, Hanna ; Stora, Thierry ; Wojtaczka, Wiktoria

Keywords:

Science & Technology, Multidisciplinary Sciences, Science & Technology - Other Topics, ION-SOURCE, RADIONUCLIDE THERAPY, THORIUM, EFFICIENCY, ACTINIUM, CANCER, PROTONS, TH-229, C14/22/104#57006277

Abstract:

[Formula: see text]Ac is a radio-isotope that can be linked to biological vector molecules to treat certain distributed cancers using targeted alpha therapy. However, developing [Formula: see text]Ac-labelled radiopharmaceuticals remains a challenge due to the supply shortage of pure [Formula: see text]Ac itself. Several techniques to obtain pure [Formula: see text]Ac are being investigated, amongst which is the high-energy proton spallation of thorium or uranium combined with resonant laser ionization and mass separation. As a proof-of-principle, we perform off-line resonant ionization mass spectrometry on two samples of [Formula: see text]Ac, each with a known activity, in different chemical environments. We report overall operational collection efficiencies of 10.1(2)% and 9.9(8)% for the cases in which the [Formula: see text]Ac was deposited on a rhenium surface and a ThO[Formula: see text] mimic target matrix respectively. The bottleneck of the technique was the laser ionization efficiency, which was deduced to be 15.1(6)%.