Photofission of235U and238U at intermediate energies: absolute cross sections and fragment mass distributions

The total photofission cross section _,F for²³⁵U and²³⁸U has been measured in the energy range 50E800 MeV at the 855 MeV Mainz Microtron MAMI using energy and time tagged photons (Glasgow Tagger) and a 4 arrangement of position sensitive fragment detectors. Besides the absolute photofission cross section _F, which almost completely exhausts the total photon absorption cross section for these nuclei, fragment mass distributions in this energy domain were determined via time of flight techniques (TOF). The results for the total photofission cross sections _,F normalized to the atomic numberA for both isotopes coincide, and agree in the-resonance region, within the systematic errors, with the socalledUniversal Curve _,T/A of the total photon absorption cross section _,T. At higher energies the cross sections exhibit a smooth behaviour. In particular, it is shown for the first time that there isno resonance-like shape near the D₁₃ resonance (at 710 MeV) as observed for the free proton. This complete suppression of the D₁₃ resonance in complex nuclei is not yet understood on a microscopic level. The fragment mass distributions show a predominantly mass symmetric fission. However, contributions from mass asymmetric fission at some photon energies may give a hint of an increased mass asymmetric fission after the onset of the pion and two pion channels.Excerpt from D26 Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, SFB 201 Mainz