The neutron-induced reaction cross sections of 242m Am were measured at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center using the Detector for Advanced Neutron-Capture Experiments array along with a compact parallel-plate avalanche counter for fission-fragment detection. A new neutron-capture cross section was determined, and the absolute scale was set according to a concurrent measurement of the well-known 242m Am(n,f) cross section. The (n,γ) cross section was measured from thermal to an incident energy of 1 eV at which point the data quality was limited by the reaction yield in the laboratory. Our new 242m Am fission cross section was normalized to ENDF/B-VII.1 to set the absolute scale, and it agreed well with the (n,f) cross section reported by Browne et al. from thermal energy to 1 keV. The average absolute capture-to-fission ratio was determined from thermal to En = 0.1 eV, and it was found to be 26(4)% as opposed to the ratio of 19% from the ENDF/B-VII.1 evaluation.

The Tz = − 3 2 nucleus 21 Mg has been studied by Coulomb excitation on 196 Pt and 110 Pd targets. A 205.6(1)-keV γ-ray transition resulting from the Coulomb excitation of the 5 * panu.ruotsalainen@jyu.fi; Present address:

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The absolute neutron-capture cross section of 242 Pu was measured at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center using the Detector for Advanced Neutron-Capture Experiments array along with a compact parallel-plate avalanche counter for fission-fragment detection. The first direct measurement of the 242 Pu(n,γ) cross section was made over the incident neutron energy range from thermal to ≈ 6 keV, and the absolute scale of the (n,γ) cross section was set according to the known 239 Pu(n,f) resonance at En,R = 7.83 eV. This was accomplished by adding a small quantity of 239 Pu to the 242 Pu sample. The relative scale of the cross section, with a range of four orders of magnitude, was determined for incident neutron energies from thermal to ≈ 40 keV. Our data, in general, are in agreement with previous measurements and those reported in ENDF/B-VII.1; the 242 Pu(n,γ) cross section at the En,R = 2.68 eV resonance is within 2.4% of the evaluated value. However, discrepancies exist at higher energies; our data are ≈30% lower than the evaluated data at En ≈ 1 keV and are approximately 2σ away from the previous measurement at En ≈ 20 keV.

The physical properties of neutrons emitted from neutron-induced fission are fundamental to our understanding of nuclear fission. However, while state-of-the-art fission models still incorporate isotropic fission neutron spectra, it is believed that the pre-equilibrium pre-fission component of these spectra is strongly anisotropic. The lack of experimental guidance on this feature has not motivated incorporation of anisotropic neutron spectra in fission models, though any significant anisotropy would impact descriptions of a fissioning system. In the present work, an excess of counts at high energies in the fission neutron spectrum of 239 Pu is clearly observed and identified as an excess of the pre-equilibrium pre-fission distribution above the post-fission neutron spectrum. This excess is separated from the underlying post-fission neutron spectrum and its angular distribution is determined as a function in incident neutron energy and outgoing neutron detection angle. Comparison with neutron scattering models provides the first experimental evidence that the preequilibrium angular distribution is uncorrelated with the fission axis. The results presented here also impact the interpretation of several influential prompt fission neutron spectrum measurements.