Cross sections for 197Au(n, γ)198Au and 115In(n, γ)116mIn in the neutron energy region 2.0–7.7 MeV

The cross sections for the reactions ¹⁹⁷Au(n, γ)¹⁹⁸Au and ¹¹⁵In(n, γ)^116mIn have been measured with the activation method in the neutron energy region 2.0–7.7 MeV. The influence of background neutrons on the results was studied in considerable detail. The main problems are caused by low-energy neutrons produced by charged-particle reactions in the target material and secondary neutrons from nonelastic reactions in the sample and surrounding materials.The measured capture cross sections are generally lower than previous results and the deviation tends to increase with increasing neutron energy. The data are also compared with calculations based on the compound-nucleus model and quite good agreement is obtained.