Measurements of the cross-section of 111Cd(n,n′)111mCd reaction for 241Am/Be neutrons

Abstract

The cross-section of the [Formula: see text] reaction was measured with [Formula: see text] neutrons using a natural cadmium target [Formula: see text]. The neutron fluence and mean neutron energy of the source were determined using the ISO 8529-1 neutron spectrum and the known cross-sections of the monitor reaction [Formula: see text]. In order to measure the poor [Formula: see text]-ray activity of the reaction products, an HPGe detector with 70% detection efficiency surrounded by an adequate graded shield was applied. The efficiency calculations for the detector were performed using standard point calibration sources and the EFFTRAN efficiency code. Using the measured values of the neutron flux and the induced [Formula: see text]-ray activity of [Formula: see text], the cross-section of the [Formula: see text] reaction at the average neutron energy of 4.05 MeV was found to be [Formula: see text] mb. An estimation of the contribution to the total cross-section by the accompanied reactions [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] was achieved and the related cross-sections were found to be 0.16 mb and 8.99 mb, respectively.