Platinum radioisotopes are of growing interest for targeted cancer therapy and diagnostic imaging because their decay delivers highly localized radiation doses in tissue, herewith enabling precise DNA damage through Auger-electron emission. Developing production technologies that provide platinum isotopes with high specific activity is essential in radioisotope therapy. Photonuclear reactions on stable nuclei offer a viable accelerator-based route for isotope production when supported by reliable cross-section data. We report photonuclear cross-section measurements for the ${}^{197}\mathrm{Au}(\gamma ,pn){}^{195m}\mathrm{Pt}$ reaction at incident $\gamma$-ray energies of 27, 29, and 31 MeV using the activation method. The measurements were performed by irradiating a stack of concentric-ring gold targets with a quasimonoenergetic $\gamma$-ray beam provided by the High Intensity Gamma-ray Source ($\mathrm{HI}\gamma \mathrm{S}$). The induced ${}^{195m}\mathrm{Pt}$ activity was quantified using offline $\gamma$-ray spectroscopy. These data provide the first experimental constraints on the ${}^{197}\mathrm{Au}(\gamma ,pn){}^{195m}\mathrm{Pt}$ cross section in the near-threshold region. The comparison of the measured excitation function to phits and talys calculations indicates that the reaction becomes measurable only near 30 MeV and that substantially higher bremsstrahlung end-point energies are required for practically meaningful production.

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• Chemotherapy
• Nuclear medicine imaging
• Nuclear reactions
• Photonuclear reactions
• Radiation therapy
• 190 ≤ A ≤ 219