Title: Medical Radionuclide Production by Laser Wakefield Acceleration
Speaker: Dino Jaroszynski (University of Strathclyde)
Date: Wednesday, 10 June 2026, 16:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST)

We present a study of the production of 67Cu medical radioisotopes using bremsstrahlung radiation produced by 150 pC bunches of high energy electrons from a laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) when they interact with dense convertor material.  The experiments demonstrating photonuclear production of radioisotopes have been carried out at the Scottish Centre for the Application of Plasma-based accelerators (SCAPA). 10 kBq of 67Cu was produced by irradiating enriched 68Zn over a five-hour irradiation period at approximately 1 Hz repetition rate, which provides an important experimental benchmark. This work assesses the performance of current LWFA systems and establishes the requirements of future commercial LWFA-based systems and extrapolations suggests that the next stage of development. A facility based on optically pumped CO₂ laser technologies could potentially achieve clinically relevant activity levels of 67Cu. The project is part of the MedRadLaser collaboration between the University of Strathclyde, National Physical Laboratory, the University of the West of Scotland, and the UK Atomic Energy Authority. The studies will be extended and form part of the newly funded EUPOPA project.

The MedRadLaser collaboration involves Giuseppe Lorusso[1], Dino A. Jaroszynski[2], David O’Donnell[3], S. Mark Wiggins[2], Baris Bingol[2], Peter Ivanov[1], Ben Russel[1], and Lanre Yusuf[1] 

[1] NPL Science and Engineering Directorate, UK
[2] Department of Physics, Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
[3] School of Computing, Engineering and Physical Sciences, Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, UK