Measurement of 139La(p,x) cross sections from 35-60 MeV by stacked-target activation

A stacked-target of natural lanthanum foils (99.9119% La-139) was irradiated using a 60 MeV proton beam at the LBNL 88-Inch Cyclotron. La-139(p,x) cross sections are reported between 35-60 MeV for nine product radionuclides. The primary motivation for this measurement was the need to quantify the production of Ce-134. As a positron-emitting analogue of the promising medical radionuclide Ac-225, Ce-134 is desirable for in vivo applications of bio-distribution assays for this emerging radio-pharmaceutical. The results of this measurement were compared to the nuclear model codes TALYS, EMPIRE and ALICE (using default parameters), which showed significant deviation from the measured values.