Identification of New Isotope 238Th

Unreported heavy neutron-rich nuclide ²³⁸Th has been produced via a multinucleon transfer reaction by 60MeVIu ¹⁸0 ions bombardment of natural uranium.Thorium was radiochemically separated from the mixture of uranium and reaction products. ²³⁸Pa as a daughter nucleus of ²³⁸Th has been identified according to the growth and decay of ²³⁸Pa γ rays which has been observed. The half-life of ²³⁸Th was determined to be (9.4 + 2.0) min. At the same time, a new γ ray of (89.0 + 0.3) keV with T_1/2= (8.9 + 1.5)min was found in the γ spectrum gated with the K_α1, X ray of Pa and assigned to ²³⁸Th decay based on the measurements of its transition energy and the half-life.

     

Fission of 232Th, 238U and 235U induced by negative muons

The absolute yields of prompt and delayed fission induced by negative muons in ²³²Th, ²³⁸U and ²³⁵U have been measured. The delayed fission yields are much lower than could be predicted from Γ_n/Γ_f systematics for 15–20 MeV nuclear excitation. The systematics of prompt fission yields are compared with recently obtained photofission data. It is suggested that prompt fission can be used for investigating the channel structure of the fission barrier.     

Search for E2 strength in electrofission of 238U and 232Th

We have measured the cross-section ratio σ^?/σ⁺ for the electron and positron induced fission of uranium and thorium in the energy range 10–40 MeV with detectors at 90° and in a 2π geometry. The observed periodic structure is discussed with respect to E2 admixtures and an anisotropy of the angular distribution, after the onset of each higher chance fission threshold, as well as with respect to the shape of the photofission cross section.     

The muon capture rate in 232Th and 238U studied in the fission mode

We find that for 0.4 GeV protons nucleon-nucleon data have enough accuracy for detailed analyses of proton-helium elastic scattering. Continued sensitivity to nucleon-nucleon inputs and an unexpected discrepancy below the first minimum suggest a need for caution in extracting nuclear information.     

新核素238Th的鉴别

利用60MeV/u的¹⁸O离子束轰击天然铀靶,通过多核子转移反应生成重丰中子新核素²³⁸Th.观测到了²³⁸Th的子体²³⁸Paγ活性的生长、衰变行为,鉴别了²³⁸Th的存在,并测得它的半衰期为(9.4±2.0)min.同时,发现了一条能量为(89.0±0.3)keV、半衰期为(8.9±1.5)min的新γ射线,指定为²³⁸Th的衰变γ射线.     

北航沙河校区土壤中40 K、238 U、232 Th相对含量的实验测量

环境中天然伽马射线主要来源于40K以及钍系、铀系和锕系.通过探测伽马射线来识别放射性核素并得到它们的相对含量,是核科学与核技术中的一个重要方法.利用高分辨的高纯锗探测器,北航以及国内部分高校已开设了鉴别环境中放射性核素的实验.在此基础上,本文进一步利用特征γ射线与递次衰变规律,对北航沙河校区土壤中的40 K、238 U...     

Fission of muonic 232Th and 239Pu

The neutron emission is studied following the formation of muonic atoms of ²³²Th and ²³⁹Pu. Energy and time distributions are measured. Various processes which contribute to the measured spectra are considered. A collective resonance model of the muon capture is used to calculate the nuclear excitation function. The probability of the radiationless nuclear excitations and the influence of the presence of the bound atomic muon on the fission barrier are discussed. The existing data for the $\text{Γ}{}_{\mathrm{n}}\text{Γ}{}_{\mathrm{f}}$, are analysed. As a result of the analysis the rates of the prompt and delayed fission events (due to the radiationless mu-atomic transitions and the nuclear muon capture, respectively) are deduced from the experimental data to be 0.006/muon and 0.045/muon for ²³²Th and 0.10/muon and 0.49/muon for ²³⁹Pu, respectively. The increase of the fission barrier for muonic atoms is confirmed. The experimental neutron rates can be consistently explained only if it is assumed that in both nucleides the K_α radiationless transitions do not induce fission. The increase of the fission barrier for ²³⁹Pu is hence deduced to be not less than 1.2 MeV. The fate of the atomic muon after the nuclear fission is briefly discussed. Its influence on the interpretation of the present results is found to be small.     

Study of the giant dipole resonance of 232Th and 238U using elastic and raman photon scattering

Differential cross sections for elastic and Raman scattering of photons from ²³²Th and ²³⁸U targets were measured. Eight photon energies in the range 7.9–11.4 MeV were used and were obtained from thermal neutron capture in Fe, Cr, Cu and Ni. The angular distribution of the elastic and Raman scattered radiation from ²³²Th was measured. The results are compared with calculations of the simple rotator model and the dynamical collective model of the giant dipole resonance after incorporating the effect of Delbruck scattering.     

High-spin states in 222Th

Levels to spin 16⁺ in the ground band and 17^? in the octupole band in ²²²Th have been identified using the reaction ²⁰⁸Pb(¹⁸O, 4n)²²²Th at 93 MeV. To suppress intense γ-ray background from fission a residue detector was built and operated in coincidence with the Ge(Li) and NaI(Tl) detectors. The apparent moment of inertia in the ground-state rotational band rises very rapidly with increasing spin, however, no indications of backbending were observed. The octupole band at low spin has an aligned angular momentum $\text{J ≈ 3}\text{h}\text{?}$ relative to the ground-state band. Strong cross-band E1 transitions competed with collective E2 transitions within each band. Analysis showed that the ratios $\text{B(}\text{E}\text{1)}\text{B(}\text{E}\text{2)}$ were within experimental uncertainty independent of both the spin and parity of the parent state.The average γ-ray multiplicity per cascade was measured for ²²²Th. The results were in reasonable agreement with the computer code ORNL-ALICE.     

A New Heavy Neutron-rich Isotope 238Th

A new nuclide ²³⁸Th has been produced via multinucleon transfer reaction induced by 60MeV/u ¹⁸O ion irradiation of natural uranium. The thorium was radiochemically separated from the mixture of uranium and its reaction products. The activity of thorium was measured by using a HPGe detector and a planar HPGe detector. The ²³⁸Th has been identified for the first time by measuring the growth and decay of the γ-rays from its daughter ²³⁸Pa. The half-life of 238Th was determined to be (9.4±2.0)min. In addition,a new (89.0±0.3)keV γ-ray with T_1/2=(8.9±1.5)min was observed and assigned to ²³⁸Th decay based on the measurement of transition energy and half life.     

The mass and kinetic energy distributions in the fission of 237Np, 232Th, 238U, 235U and 209Bi induced by 110 MeV electrons

Fission of ²³²Th, ²³⁷Np, ²⁰⁹Bi, ²³⁵U and ²³⁸U induced by 110 MeV electrons has been studied by means of surface barrier detectors. The resulting mass and kinetic energy distributions are presented. Comparison with the liquid drop model predictions shows reasonable agreement in the case of ²⁰⁹Bi. The data are analysed in terms of a two component model of fission and the mean total kinetic energies of the components are shown to depend linearly on $\text{Z}{}_1\text{Z}{}_2\text{(A}{}_1{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>3</mtext>}}\text{+ A}{}_2{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>3</mtext>}}\text{)}$. Interesting differences are found when the present results are compared with the recent photofission experiments of Areskoug et al. and features in both sets of data correlate with changes of fragment deformation implied by the calculations of Wilkins et al.     

Elastic and inelastic4He-scattering on208Pb,232Th and234, 236, 238U

The angular distributions of the elastic⁴He-scattering on²⁰⁸Pb and the elastic and inelastic⁴He-scattering on²³²Th and^234,236,238U at E_4He = 50 MeVE_{4_{He} } = 50 MeV were measured between 20° and 60°. The⁴He-particles were detected with a position sensitive detector in the focal plane of a split-pole spectrograph. The aim was to get data to determine the deformation parameters of the equilibrium states by coupled channels calculations.     

Evidence for an isomeric state in 216Th

A new α-line with E_α = 9.912±0.020 MeV is assigned to an isomeric state in ²¹⁶Th. It decays with a half-life of $\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{= 180±40 μ}\text{s}$. There are indications for a dominating γ-branch.     

Alpha-particle decay of 218Th,a new isotope

A new isotope, ₉₀²¹⁸Th₁₂₈, has been found to decay with E_α = 9.67 ± 0.02 MeV and $\text{t}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{= 96 ± 7}\text{ns}$. The reduced α-particle width of ²¹⁸Th is about 1.4 times the value expected from the general trend of the N = 128 isotones with Z = 84?89.     

The interaction of 538 MeV 56Fe with 238U

Binary coincident fragments from the ⁵⁶Fe+²³⁸U reaction at 538 MeV have been studied. Fragment energies were measured and fragment masses determined by a kinematic method. Three types of event are defined by suitable adjacent limits in the mass versus energy event space. The angular distributions of cross section, energy and mass have determined for each event region and particular attention paid to that part containing possible fissions following complete fusion. The total reaction cross section consists of about 50 % of binary fragmentation channels. The remaining channels correspond to a ternary process of heavy recoil fission.     

Fragment angular distributions in electron-induced fission of 232Th

Fission fragment angular distributions have been observed in electron-induced fission of ²³²Th for electron energies 8.7 MeV ≦ E_e ≦ 30 MeV. For low energies (though above the fission threshold) the angular distributions contain both a dipole and a quadrupole component. The (90°/0°) anisotropy decreases rapidly for higher electron energies but reveals smaller peaks after the onset of second-, third- and fourth-chance fission suggesting that the effective fission barriers for ²³¹Th and ²²⁹Th in second- and fourth-chance fission, respectively, are both characterized by $\text{K =}\text{1}\text{2}$.     

Ground-state α-decay of N = 128 isotones 216Ra, 217Ac and 218Th

The α-decay properties of very short-lived N = 128 isotones, ²¹⁶Ra, ²¹⁷Ac and ²¹⁸Th, were investigated by the pulsed-beam method. Alpha emitters of interest were produced in the bombardment of ²⁰⁸Pb or ²⁰⁹Bi with 65–96 MeV ¹²C or ¹⁴N ions and α-decays were measured between natural beam bursts of the cyclotron. The results obtained are _Eα = 9.349±0.008 MeVand $\text{t}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{= 182±10}\text{ns for}{}^{216}\text{Ra}\text{, 9.650±0.010}\text{MeV}$ and $\text{111±7}\text{ns for}{}^{217}\text{Ac}\text{, 9.665±0.010}\text{MeV}$ and $\text{96±7}\text{ns for}{}^{218}\text{Th}$. The experimental reduced α-widths of N = 128 isotones from ²¹²Po to ²¹⁸Th are shown to agree well with the simple shell model calculation.     

Photofission cross sections of 232Th and 236U from threshold to 8 MeV

Measurements of the photofission cross sections of ²³²Th and ²³⁶U for an energy range of 5.0 to 8.0 MeV are reported. The Compton scattering facility at the Ames Laboratory Research Reactor was used for these measurements. Resonance structure at γ-ray energies of 6.3 and 7.6 MeV is observed in ²³²Th and at 5.3, 6.0, 6.5, and 7.5 MeV in ²³⁶U. The present results are compared with other photofission experiments and particle-induced fission studies. Suggestions for the interpretation of the resonances are given on the basis of Bohr's fission-channel theory and the existence of a double-humped fission barrier.     

Study of some characteristics of the thermal-neutron-induced sub-barrier fission of 231Pa, 232Th and 237Np

Some characteristics of the thermal-neutron-induced fission of ²³¹Pa, ²³²Th and ²³⁷Np were studied using a highly pure thermal-neutron beam of the Grenoble High Flux Reactor. For the thermal-neutron-induced-fission cross section we obtained 20 ± 4 mb for ²³⁷Np, 19 ± 4 mb for ²³¹Pa and less than 2.5 μb for ²³²Th, in agreement with calculations based on a double humped fission barrier. We also determined a mean total fission fragment kinetic energy of 172.8 + 2.5 MeV for ²³⁷Np, which fits into the semi-empirical systematic of $\text{E}\text{?}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>K</mtext>}}$ versus $\text{Z}{}^2\text{/A}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>case1</mtext><mtext>3</mtext>}}$. Finally, we determined LRA/B ratios of (1.94±0.17) × 10^?3 for ²³⁷Np and (1.67±0.11) × 10^?3for ²³¹Pa, in disagreement with the theoretical predictions of Feather, but consistent with the semi-empirical systematic of Halpern.     

The thermal neutron induced fission cross section of 232Th

The thermal neutron induced fission cross section of ²³²Th was measured using the highly pure thermal neutron beam from the 87 m curved neutron guide at the High Flux Reactor of the ILL (Grenoble). An upper limit of 4 μb was obtained for the fission cross section, which is an order of magnitude smaller than previous results. This result is discussed in terms of the double-humped fission barrier theory.