Neutron-induced cross sections of short-lived nuclei via the surrogate reaction method

¹ CENBG, CNRS/IN2P3, Universitù Bordeaux I, Chemin du Solarium, B.P. 120, 33175 Gradignan, France
² CEA DAM DIF, 91297 Arpajon, France
³ LLNL, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
⁴ GANIL, 14076 CAEN, France
⁵ CEA-Cadarache, DEN/DER/SPRC/LEPh, 13108 Saint Paul lez Durance, France
⁶ IPN, CNRS/IN2P3, Univ. Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay, France
⁷ CEA Saclay, DSM/DAPNIA/SPhN, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France

Abstract

The measurement of neutron-induced cross sections of short-lived nuclei is extremely difficult due to the radioactivity of the samples. The surrogate reaction method is an indirect way of determining cross sections for nuclear reactions that proceed through a compound nucleus. This method presents the advantage that the target material can be stable or less radioactive than the material required for a neutron-induced measurement. We have successfully used the surrogate reaction method to extract neutron-induced fission cross sections of various short-lived actinides. In this work, we investigate whether this technique can be used to determine neutron-induced capture cross sections in the rare-earth region.