Neutron induced reactions in antimony isotopes at 14 MeV

Neutron activation cross-sections in antimony isotopes were measured at an incident neutron energy of 14.2±0.2 MeV. The versatile mixed powder technique and high resolution Ge(Li) detector gamma ray spectroscopy were employed. The measured cross-sections were compared with those reported in literature. The total (n, 2n) cross-sections were compared with the estimates based on statistical theory. The experimental values were found to be smaller than the statistical theory estimates and the resulting diminution was attributed to the precompound effects in (n, 2n) reactions at 14 MeV.     

An upgrade of the SCANDAL setup for measurements of elastic neutron scattering at 175 MeV

The experimental setup SCANDAL, used for measurements of the differential cross section for elastic and inelastic neutron scattering, has recently been upgraded with larger CsI scintillating detectors to enable measurements at energies up to 175 MeV. Measurements on Fe, Bi and Si have been carried out using the quasi mono-energetic neutron beam at the The Svedberg Laboratory, and data is under analysis. The experimental setup can be used for measurements on a wide range of target nuclei, including C and O, which are important for dosimetry applications. SCANDAL can also run in proton mode, for measurements of the (n,p) reaction. This paper describes the new experimental setup, and reports on its properties, such as energy resolution.     

Neutron scattering from Bismuth,Strontium and Sodium at 14.8 MeV

Differential cross sections for the elastic and inelastic scattering of 14.8 MeV neutrons from Bi, Sr and Na have been measured with four neutron detectors participating in a time-of-flight system which had an energy resolution of 900 keV for the incident neutrons. The whole procedure was checked by scattering from carbon. For the elastic scattering of Bi, Sr and Na satisfactory optical-model fits were obtained. The absolute cross sections for excitation of collective states are compared to the distorted-wave theory for direct reactions, and a reasonable agreement has been found. The nuclear deformation parameters are extracted and compared to the values from other experiments.     

Neutron inelastic scattering from 40Ca at 21.7 and 25.5 MeV

Differential cross sections for the scattering of neutrons from ⁴⁰Ca for states up to 5 MeV excitation energy have been measured at 21.7 and 25.5 MeV. The analysis is done using a coupled channel formalism in terms of a vibration collective model. The results using a usual standard Woods-Saxon form factor for the transitions are compared with those obtained using form factors derived from a model-independent analysis to the elastic cross sections.     

An analysis of 175 MeV Nickel ion irradiation and annealing effects on silicon NPN rf power transistors

In this study NPN rf power transistors were irradiated by 175 MeV Ni¹³⁺ ions in the dose range of 100 krad to 100 Mrad. Their characteristics such as excess base current (ΔI_B = I_Bpost ? I_Bpre), dc current gain (h_FE), transconductance (g_m) and collector-saturation current (I_CSat) were studied before and after irradiation. The damage factor (K) for h_FE was calculated using Messenger–Spratt relation. The base current (I_B) was found to increase significantly after irradiation and in turn decreases the h_FE. The g_m and collector current (I_C) in the saturation region (I_CSat) were found to decrease with increase in radiation dose. The results obtained here were also compared with that obtained by 140 MeV Si¹⁰⁺ ions, 100 MeV F⁸⁺ ions, 95 MeV O⁷⁺ ions and 50 MeV Li³⁺ ions irradiation studies in the same dose ranges to understand the LET effects. The recovery in the I–V characteristics of irradiated NPN transistors were studied by isothermal and isochronal annealing methods.     

Neutron induced reaction cross-section of115In around 14 MeV

A systematic investigation was carried out on¹¹⁵In to determine the contribution of different reactions to the total non-elastic cross-section in the 13.43 and 14.84 MeV incident neutron energy range. All the major components ofσ _NE were measured with exception of theσ ^g(n, n′) cross section. An analytical expression is recommended to estimate theσ _NE data as a function of mass number at E_n=14.1 MeV. By the knowledge ofσ _NE, the energy dependence ofσ ^g(n, n′) could be deduced. The isomeric cross section ratios both for (n, 2n) and (n, n′) processes were also determined in the given energy range. The present experiment proves the dependence ofσ ^m/(σ ^g+σ ^m) ratio on the spin value (I _m) of the isomeric state in the (n, 2n) reaction. Excitation functions of the (n, 2n), (n, n′) (n, p) and (n∶ p, α) reactions calculated by STAPRE code show good agreement with the experimental results.     

Physical and chemical response of polypropylene irradiated with 70 MeV carbon and 150 MeV nickel-ions

Polypropylene films were irradiated with C⁵⁺ (70 MeV) and Ni¹¹⁺ (150 MeV) ions of varying fluence. The ion induced optical, chemical and structural changes were investigated using UV-Vis and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). UV-Vis data showed an increase of optical absorbance and a shift of the absorption edge towards the red end of the spectrum when the ion fluence was increased. This shift may be attributed to the greater degree of conjugation. FTIR analysis revealed the formation of alcoholic and ketonic groups. Significant loss of crystallinity occurred with increasing ion fluence.     

Neutron emission from 14N + 165Ho collisions at 35 MeV/u

Neutron emission from ¹⁴N + ¹⁶⁵Ho collisions has been studied at 25 MeV/u incident energy. Energy and angular distributions of the neutrons were measured in coincidence with projectile-like fragments (Li, Be, B, and C) emitted at angles of 10° and 30°. The spectra of neutrons at angles far from the angle of a coincident fragment have been satisfactorily parameterized in terms of a slowly moving, target-like source of temperature 2–3 MeV and a half-beam-velocity source of temperature about 7 MeV. The latter source accounts for about 20% of the detected neutrons for in-plane measurements. The out-of-plane cross sections are smaller. The relevant parameters of the moving-sources parametrization suggest a simple model which qualitatively explains the data in terms of the development of a hot participant zone and its subsequent mass exchange interactions with spectators in the projectile and target nuclei.     

Neutron emission spectra and angular distributions at 25.7 MeV neutron bombarding energies

Inelastic scattering of 25.7 MeV neutrons to unresolved final states with excitation energies up to ~13 MeV were measured for monoisotopic samples of ⁵¹V,⁵⁶Fe, ⁶⁵Cu, ⁹³Nb and ²⁰⁹Bi. Time-of-flight spectra were taken at several angles between 25° and 145° using the beam swinger spectrometer. Double differential cross sections, angle-integrated spectra and energy-binned angular distributions are compared with the predictions of pre-equilibrium theory.     

Charged lepton production from iron induced by atmospheric neutrinos

The charged current lepton production induced by neutrinos in ⁵⁶Fe nuclei has been studied. The calculations have been done for the quasielastic as well as the inelastic reactions assuming Δ-dominance and take into account the effect of Pauli blocking, Fermi motion and the renormalization of weak transition strengths in the nuclear medium. The quasielastic production cross-sections for lepton production are found to be strongly reduced due to nuclear effects, while there is about 10% reduction in the inelastic cross-sections in the absence of the final-state interactions of the pions. The numerical results for the momentum and angular distributions of the leptons averaged over the various atmospheric-neutrino spectra at the Soudan and Gran Sasso sites have been presented. The effect of nuclear-model dependence and the atmospheric-flux dependence on the relative yield of μ to e has been studied and discussed.     

Fragmentation of 370 MeV/n 20Ne and 470 MeV/n 24Mg in light targets

Total charge-changing cross sections and cross sections for the production of projectile-like fragments were determined for fragmentation reactions induced by 370 MeV/n ²⁰Ne ions in water and lucite, and 490 MeV/n ²⁴Mg ions in polyethylene, carbon and aluminum targets sandwiched with CR-39 plastic nuclear track detectors. An automated microscope system and a track-to-track matching algorithm were used to count and recognize the primary and secondary particles. The measured cross sections were then compared with published cross sections and predictions of different models. Two models and the three-dimensional Monte Carlo Particle Heavy Ion Transport Code System (PHITS) were used to calculate total charge-changing cross sections. Both models agreed within a few percent for the system ²⁴Mg + CH₂, however a deviation up to 20% was observed for the systems ²⁰Ne + H₂O and C₅H₈O₂, when using one of the models. For all the studied systems, PHITS systematically underestimated the total charge-changing cross section. It was also found that the partial fragmentation cross sections for ²⁴Mg + CH₂ measured in present and earlier works deviated up to 20% for Z = 6–11. Measured cross sections for the production of fragments (Z = 4–9) for ²⁰Ne + H₂O and C₅H₈O₂ were compared with predictions of three different semi-empirical models and JQMD which is used in the PHITS code. The calculated cross sections differed from the measured data by 10–90% depending on which fragment and charge was studied, and which model was used.     

Neutron activation cross sections at 14.7 MeV for isotopes of tungsten

Cross sections for (n, 2n), (n, p), (n, α) and [(n, n′p) + (n, pn)] reactions at 14.7 ± 0.3MeV on enriched ^{180, 182, 183, 184, 186}W isotopes have been measured by the activation technique using Ge(Li) detector γ-ray spectroscopy. Some systematic trends in the cross-section data have been analysed. The (n, 2n) reaction at this energy in this mass region is by far the most favoured reaction and accounts for > 80 % of the total inelastic cross section.     

Measurement of neutron elastic scattering cross sections for carbon at 134 MeV

Angular differential neutron elastic scattering cross sections have been measured by using a ⁷Li(p,n) quasi-monoenergetic neutron beam. The neutron beam whose peak energy is 134 MeV was incident upon a natural carbon sample, and the scattering neutrons were measured by liquid organic scintillators with the time-of-flight (TOF) technique. The results were compared with the existing experimental data measured by a recoil-proton telescope, and the evaluated nuclear data of JENDL/HE-2007 and ENDF/B-VII.0.     

Further Analysis of Neutron Double-Differential Cross Section of n ＋ ^16O at 14.1 MeV and 18 MeV

By using a new reaction model for light nuclei, the double-differential cross section of total outgoing neutron with LUNF code for n＋^16O reactions at En=14.1 MeV and 18 MeV have been calculated and analyzed. In this paper the opened reaction channels, which have contribution to emitting the neutrons, are listed in detail. To improve the fitting results the direct inelastic scattering mechanism is involved. The calculating results agree fairly well with the experimental data at E,~ = 14.1 MeV and the deviation from calculated results and experimental data in low energy region at En= 18 MeV has been analyzed. Since the possibility of 5He has been affirmed theoretically [J.S. Zhang, Sci. Chin. G 47 （2004） 137], so 5He emission from n＋ ^16O reaction is taken into account, which plays an important role at the region of the outgoing neutron energy εn〈3 MeV in total outgoing neutron energy-angular spectrum. The calculated results indicate that the pre-equilibrium mechanism dominates the whole reaction processes, and the recoil effect in light nuclear reactions is essentially important.     

Neutron ambient dose equivalent from 5 MeV/u 10,11B, 12,13C and 16,18O projectiles incident on a thick Al target

The neutron ambient dose equivalent has been measured from ¹⁰B, ¹¹B, ¹²C, ¹³C, ¹⁶O and ¹⁸O projectiles of energy 5 MeV/amu incident on a thick Al target at 0°, 30°, 60° and 90° with respect to the beam direction using a conventional dose equivalent meter. The calculated results obtained using previously reported empirical relations do not reproduce the experimental data. The results obtained from the PACE nuclear reaction code are closer to the experimental data as compared to the various empirical expressions. The ratio of the increase in the dose rates when the projectile is changed from the lighter to the heavier isotopes is fairly reproduced by most of the empirical formulations and the PACE code. A previously reported relation for the slope parameter is used to predict the directional distribution of the neutron dose for the projectiles used in this study. The calculated doses are lower than the experimental results in the forward directions but agree within the uncertainties at the backward directions. A new set of projectile-based parameters have been derived from the present experimental data which can be used in an empirical formulation.     

Neutron and light-charged-particle productions in proton-induced reactions on 208Pb at 62.9 MeV

Neutrons and light charged particles produced in 62.9MeV proton-induced reactions on ²⁰⁸Pb were measured during a single experiment performed at the CYCLONE facility in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium). Two independent experimental set-ups were used to extract double differential cross-sections for neutrons, protons, deuterons, tritons, ³He and alpha-particles. Charged particles were detected using a set of Si- Si- CsI telescopes from 25^° to 155^°, by step of 10 degrees. Neutrons were measured using shielded DeMoN counters, liquid NE213 scintillators, at 24^°, 35^°, 55^°, 80^° and 120^°. These data allowed the determination of angle differential, energy differential and total production cross-sections. A comparison with theoretical calculations (MCNPX, FLUKA and TALYS) has been performed. It shows that the neutron and proton production rates are well predicted by MCNPX, using the INCL4 option. All the other codes underestimate the neutron production whereas they overestimate the proton one. For composite particles, which represent 17% of the charged particle total reaction cross-section, neither the shape nor the amplitude of the cross-sections are correctly predicted by the models.     

Neutron spectra at 0° from p—p and p—d collisions at 647 and 800 MeV incident energies

The p—d spectra show sharp high-energy peaks (≈ 15 MeV FWHM) with integrated yields of 30 and 31 mb/sr, respectively and with lower-energy bumps associated with pion production. The p—p spectra reflect the influence of the Δ(1232) resonance.     

Neutron activation cross section for Ni isotopes at 14·8 MeV

Neutron activation cross sections for Ni isotopes were measured using Ge(Li)γ-ray spectroscopy of the reaction products. The linear least-squares method was used to resolve the interfering reactions. The results obtained are compared with recent experimental and evaluated data, statistical model and semiempirical calculations.