<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mi>γ</mi></math>-ray spectroscopy of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mmultiscripts><mi>La</mi><mprescripts></mprescripts><none></none><mn>140</mn></mmultiscripts></math> decay for nuclear forensics applications

A. Mattera; S. Waniganeththi; N. Cabanas; E. A. McCutchan; S. Zhu; C. Morse; M. P. Carpenter; J. P. Greene; C. Müller-Gatermann; M. Jandel; P. C. Bender; V. Tripathi; C. Wibisono; S. Ajayi; L. T. Baby; S. Bhattacharya; S. L. Tabor; J. M. Allmond; T. J. Gray; T. T. King

doi:10.1103/4g27-8l8x

$γ$ -ray spectroscopy of ${}^{140}{La}$ decay for nuclear forensics applications

A. Mattera ¹, S. Waniganeththi ¹, N. Cabanas ², E. A. McCutchan¹, S. Zhu^1,*, C. Morse ¹, M. P. Carpenter ³, J. P. Greene ³, C. Müller-Gatermann ³ et al.

M. Jandel ⁴, P. C. Bender ⁴, V. Tripathi ⁵, C. Wibisono ⁵, S. Ajayi ⁵, L. T. Baby⁵, S. Bhattacharya ⁵, S. L. Tabor ⁵, J. M. Allmond⁶, T. J. Gray ^6,7, and T. T. King ⁶

¹National Nuclear Data Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973-5000, USA
²Department of Chemistry, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27516, USA
³Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA
⁴Department of Physics and Applied Physics, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts 01854, USA
⁵Department of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, USA
⁶Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
⁷Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37966, USA

^*Deceased.

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Phys. Rev. C 112, 064326 – Published 22 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/4g27-8l8x

Abstract

${}^{140}{La}$ is an important isotope in nuclear forensics. It is typically paired with ${}^{140}{Ba}$ as a chronometer for dating nuclear events. In this work, we report the results of two measurements performed to fully characterize the decay scheme of ${}^{140}{La}$ . The experiments were performed using the Gammasphere array at Argonne National Laboratory and the CLARION2 array at Florida State University. Sources of ${}^{140}{La}$ were produced through neutron irradiation of natural lanthanum (99.9% ${}^{139}{La}$ ) in the University of Massachusetts Lowell research reactor. We identify a total of 40 transitions, three of which were not previously reported. An angular correlation analysis was conducted confirming current literature $J$ assignments and mixing ratios. By considering all data available in the literature, we provide new recommended values for the intensities of the strongest transitions commonly used in applications.

Physical Review C

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$γ$ -ray spectroscopy of ${}^{140}{La}$ decay for nuclear forensics applications

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γ-ray spectroscopy of La140 decay for nuclear forensics applications

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$γ$ -ray spectroscopy of ${}^{140}{La}$ decay for nuclear forensics applications