Activation cross sections of $\alpha$-particle induced nuclear reactions on hafnium and deuteron induced nuclear reaction on tantalum: production of ${}^{178}$W/${}^{178m}$Ta generator

In the frame of a systematic study of charged particle production routes of medically relevant radionuclei, the excitation function for indirect production of ${}^{178m}$Ta through ${}^{nat}$Hf($\alpha$,xn)${}^{178}$W-${}^{178m}$Ta nuclear reaction was measured for the first time up to 40 MeV. In parallel, the side reactions ${}^{nat}$Hf($\alpha$,x)${}^{179,177,176,175}$W, ${}^{183,182,178g,177,176,175}$Ta, ${}^{179m,177m,175}$Hf were also assessed. Stacked foil irradiation technique and $\gamma$-ray spectrometry were used. New experimental cross section data for the ${}^{nat}$Ta(d,xn)${}^{178}$W reaction are also reported up to 40 MeV. The measured excitation functions are compared with the results of the ALICE-IPPE, and EMPIRE nuclear reaction model codes and with the TALYS 1.4 based data in the TENDL-2013 library. The thick target yields were deduced and compared with yields of other charged particle ((p,4n), (d,5n) and (${}^3$He,x)) production routes for ${}^{178}$W.