Cross section of the ¹⁹⁷Au(n,2n)¹⁹⁶Au reaction

¹ Department of Physics, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece
² Hellenic Army Academy, Athens, Greece
³ Department of Physics, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece
⁴ Institute of Nuclear Physics, NCSR “Demokritos”, Athens, Greece

^a e-mail: akalamara@central.ntua.gr

Published online: 13 September 2017

Abstract

The ¹⁹⁷Au(n,2n)¹⁹⁶Au reaction cross section has been measured at two energies, namely at 17.1 MeV and 20.9 MeV, by means of the activation technique, relative to the ²⁷Al(n,α)²⁴Na reference reaction cross section. Quasi-monoenergetic neutron beams were produced at the 5.5 MV Tandem T11/25 accelerator laboratory of NCSR “Demokritos”, by means of the ³H(d,n)⁴He reaction, implementing a new Ti-tritiated target of ∼ 400 GBq activity. The induced γ-ray activity at the targets and reference foils has been measured with HPGe detectors. The cross section for the population of the second isomeric (12⁻) state m2 of ¹⁹⁶Au was independently determined. Auxiliary Monte Carlo simulations were performed using the MCNP code. The present results are in agreement with previous experimental data and with theoretical calculations of the measured reaction cross sections, which were carried out with the use of the EMPIRE code.