Measurement of photo-neutron cross-sections of Gd and Ce using bremsstrahlung with an end-point energy of 10 MeV

The average cross-sections for the 160 Gd(γ,n) 159 Gd and 142 Ce(γ,n) 141 Ce reactions have been measured relative to the cross-section of 197 Au(γ,n) 196 Au reaction at the bremsstrahlung end-point energy of 10 MeV. The average cross-sections of 160 Gd(γ,n) 159 Gd and 142 Ce(γ,n) 141 Ce reactions were determined using an off-line γ-ray spectrometric technique and were found in close agreement with the literature data. The uncertainties of the measurements have been studied using covariance analysis of the experimental data for the photo-nuclear reactions. Both 159 Gd and 141 Ce are the beta emitting radio-nuclides with short half-life, which makes them perfect elements for nuclear medicinal purposes, like radio-imaging and for metastatic bone tumour.