Thermal neutron capture cross-section of 76Ge

The thermal neutron capture cross-sections of the ⁷⁶Ge(n,)⁷⁷Ge and the ⁷⁶Ge(n,)^77m Ge reactions have been measured by activating targets of isotopically enriched GeO₂ through cold neutrons. The -decay spectra after the -decay of ⁷⁷Ge and ^77m Ge were measured with HPGe detectors. From these spectra the cross-sections for the ⁷⁶Ge(n,) reactions were derived relative to the cross-section of ¹⁹⁷Au using the absolute emission probabilities of the observed -ray energies. The methods used in this work result in smaller systematic uncertainties than those obtained in previous experiments.