Laser wakefield electron accelerator: possible use for radioisotope production

Electron beams generated by laser wakefield acceleration can induce a photoneutron reaction to convert 100Mo into 99Mo. Multi-pC, several-MeV electron beams, obtained from particle-in-cell simulations, could generate bremsstrahlung gamma photons within the absorption region of the photonuclear reaction. The efficiency of this process is estimated for a laser accelerator operating at kHz repetition rate in the self-modulated regime. The electron beam kinetic energy must be improved to 40MeV. To meet the typical consumption of 99Mo per patient within its decay timescale, this efficiency must be increased by three orders of magnitude.