Laurine Puren was awarded the prize for best oral presentation at the 19th International Workshop on Targetry and Target Chemistry (WTTC19), held August 25-30, 2024 in Heidelberg, Germany.
The prize was awarded for her oral presentation entitled "Production Cross Section Measurements of the natNi(d,x)61Cu Reaction".
Laurine is a 1st year PhD student in the Prisma team at Subatech, working on the production of isotopes of medical interest. More specifically, she is measuring production cross sections using the "Stacked foils" technique. These effective reaction cross-sections are essential for determining the irradiation parameters needed to optimize production of the isotope of interest, while limiting production of contaminating isotopes.
Since the start of her thesis, Laurine has carried out effective cross-section measurements of the natNi(d,x)61Cu and natPd(α,x)111Ag reactions at GIP Arronax. The interest in these isotopes is that 61Cu could be used for PET imaging (it's a β+ emitter) and 111Ag could be used for therapy (β- emitter).
