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Measurement of the 171Tm half-life

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Abstract

The half-life of 171Tm was measured by gamma-ray spectrometry, using the reference source method. The measured point-like source was prepared by homogenous mixing of 44Ti with 171Tm in order to obtain an identical detection geometry for both nuclides. The half-life of 171Tm was determined by following the count-rate ratio between the gamma-ray emissions at 66.73 keV (171Tm) and 67.9/78.3 keV (44Ti). The measurement campaign consisted of 280 measurements acquired over a period of 449 days, corresponding to about 60% of the half-life value. The result for the 171Tm half-life, 702.4 (70) d, is consistent with the currently recommended value, however the uncertainty assessment of the latter is poorly documented.

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Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Villigen, Switzerland

    I. Kajan

  2. European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Geel, Belgium

    S. Pommé

  3. Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK CEN), Mol, Belgium

    S. Heinitz

Authors
  1. I. Kajan
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  2. S. Pommé
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  3. S. Heinitz
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Contributions

IK: Conceptualization, Resources, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Visualization, Writing—original draft, Writing—Review and Editing. SP: Methodology, Software, Formal analysis, Investigation, Visualization, Writing—original draft, Writing—Review and Editing. SH: Resources, Investigation, Writing—original draft, Writing—Review and Editing.

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Correspondence to I. Kajan.

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Kajan, I., S. Pommé & Heinitz, S. Measurement of the 171Tm half-life. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 331, 645–653 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-021-08108-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-021-08108-w

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