First high resolution measurement of neutron capture resonances in 176Yb at the n_TOF CERN facility

We acknowledge to Richard Henkelmann (ITG Company) and Ulli Koester (ILL) for the 176Yb2O3 sample. F.G.I aknowledges the CERN doctoral student programme. This work was partial financial supported from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (Proyectos de I+D+i: PID2020-117969RB-I00), and Junta de Andalucia projects P20-00665 and B-FQM-15-6UGR20.Several international agencies recommend the study of new routes and new facilities for producing radioisotopes with application to nuclear medicine. Lu-177 is a versatile radioisotope used for therapy and diagnosis (theranostics) of cancer with good success in neuroendocrine tumours that is being studied to be applied to a wider range of tumours. Lu-177 is produced in few nuclear reactors mainly by the neutron capture on Lu-176. However, it could be produced at high -intensity accelerator-based neutron facilities. The energy of the neutrons in accelerator-based neutron facilities is higher than in thermal reactors. Thus, experimental data on the Yb-176(n,(sic)) cross-section in the eV and keV region are mandatory to calculate accurately the production of Yb-177, which beta decays to 177Lu. At present, there are not experimental data available from thermal to 3 keV of the Yb-176(n,(sic)) cross-section. In addition, there is no data in the resolved resonance region (RRR). This contribution shows the first results of the Yb-176 capture measurement performed at the n_TOF facility at CERN.Instituto de Salud Carlos III Spanish Government PID2020-117969RB-I00Junta de Andalucía P20-00665, B-FQM-15-6UGR2