Surrogate method and the (n,f) cross section of ^237U
Abstract
Nuclear reactions on unstable nuclei occur in extreme exotic environments ranging from the interior of stars to supernovae. The direct measurement of the cross sections for such reactions is restricted to certain nuclides where target lifetimes are reasonably long. An interesting way to overcome this limitation is to produce the same compound system using a stable target and to measure its particle and γ-ray decay probabilities. This approach is called the surrogate technique. To test and exploit it, a series of experiments were performed at WNSL Lab, employing a segmented double side silicon detector (STARS- Silicon Telescope Array for Reactions Studies) in conjunction with a Ge array for γ-ray detection. A beam of 33.4 MeV deuterons impinged on a ^238U target, simulating the neutron induced desired reactions. STARS consisted of a double Δ E-E telescope: a thin front detector followed by two thick detectors. The energy and angle information serve to tag the excitation energy of the compound nucleus. This measurement probes a neutron energy range of 0 to 14 MeV, and is a considerable experimental improvement. The data analysis will be discussed.
- Publication:
-
APS Division of Nuclear Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- October 2004
- Bibcode:
- 2004APS..DNP.GC013P