Review: Production of nuclear medicine radioisotopes with ultra-intense lasers

Abstract

In the last two decades, there has been a strong research interest in producing radioisotopes with ultra-intense lasers, as an application of laser-driven accelerators in nuclear medicine. Encouraging progress has been obtained in both experiments and simulations. This Review presents the results of several intense studied radioisotopes in detail, i.e., 18F, 11C, 13N, 15O, 99mTc, 64Cu, and 62Cu. As for other less studied radioisotopes, the results are summarized in Sec. II G. The results are listed in Tables I–VII along with laser intensities, maximum ion/photon energies, number of ions/photons per shot, reactions, and laser repetition rates and facilities. For research based on high repetition rate lasers, both single-shot and multi-shot productions are provided for the purpose of comparison. With key technologies implemented in new commissioning ultra-intense lasers, further experiments will definitely help moving this area forward, which will bring the realization of laser-driven radioisotope production closer.