The study of prompt fission γ rays at the Oslo Cyclotron Laboratory

¹ Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
² Nuclear Science Division, LBNL, Berkeley, USA
³ Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division, LLNL, Livermore, USA
⁴ Physics Department, University of California, Davis, USA
⁵ Nuclear Engineering Department, University of California, Berkeley, USA
⁶ iThemba LABS, Somerset West, South Africa
⁷ Physics Department, University of Stellenbosch, Matieland, South Africa
⁸ ELI-NP/IFIN-HH, Bucharest-Magurele, Romania
⁹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Sweden
¹⁰ European Commission, Joint Research Center for Nuclear Safety and Security, Geel, Belgium
¹¹ MTA-ATOMKI, Debrecen, Hungary
¹² IPN Orsay, Orsay Cedex, France

^* e-mail: dorthea.gjestvang@fys.uio.no

Published online: 15 December 2021

Abstract

The study of prompt fission γ rays (PFGs) is crucial for understanding the energy and angular momentum distribution in fission, and over the last decade there has been an revived interest in this aspect of fission. We present the new experimental setup at the Oslo Cyclotron Laboratory for detecting PFGs resulting from charged particle-induced fission. Additionally, PFGs from the reaction ²⁴⁰Pu(d,pf) were measured in April 2018, and the fission gated proton-γ coincidence spectrum is shown. In order to explore the dependence of the PFG emission on the excitation energy and angular momentum of the compound nucleus, we plan several experiments where charged particle reactions are used to induce fission in various plutonium isotopes. The final results will be compared to predictions made by the Fission Reaction Event Yield Algorithm (FREYA) in an upcoming publication, to benchmark the current modelling of both the PFGs and the fission process.