In this paper we present results from the first high-precision prompt-γ-ray spectral measurements from the reaction 241 Pu(n th , f). Apart from one recent experiment, no data are reported in the literature for this fissioning system, which motivated a new dedicated experiment. We have measured prompt-fission γ rays with three cerium-doped LaBr 3 (two 5.08 cm × 5.08 cm and one 7.62 cm × 7.62 cm) and one CeBr 3 (5.08 cm × 5.08 cm) scintillation detectors, which all exhibit excellent timing and good energy resolution. The average γ-ray multiplicity was determined to be ν γ = (8.21 ± 0.09) per fission, the average energy to be γ = (0.78 ± 0.01) MeV, and the total energy to be E γ,tot = (6.41 ± 0.06) MeV as the weighted average from all detectors. Since the results from all detectors are in excellent agreement, and the total released γ energy is modestly higher than the one in the present evaluated nuclear data files, we suspect that the underestimation of the prompt-γ heating in nuclear reactors is due to fast-neutron-induced fission on 238 U or rather from fission induced by γ rays from neutron capture in the construction material.

The storage of ultracold neutrons (UCN) in a combined magnetic, gravitational, and material trap is described. Wall materials investigated were diamondlike carbon (DLC) coatings on solid and flexible foil substrates as well as beryllium coatings on solid substrates. The loss coefficient per wall collision, η, and the depolarization probability β were measured simultaneously as a function of temperature (from 70 to 400 K) and energy (from 30 to 80 neV). The results at 70 K are η = (0.7 ± 0.1) × 10 −4 , β = (15.4 ± 1.0) × 10 −6 for DLC on polyethyleneterephtalate (PET) foil and η = (1.7 ± 0.1) × 10 −4 , β = (0.7 ± 0.3) × 10 −6 for DLC on aluminum foil. At room temperature the loss coefficients are larger by a factor of about 2 whereas the depolarization probabilities are found to be independent of temperature. The corresponding values for Be at room temperature are η ∼ 5 × 10 −4 , β ∼ 10 × 10 −6 . The DLC results for β and for the temperature-dependent part of the loss coefficient, η T , are interpreted in terms of incoherent scattering by hydrogen. The hydrogen admixture was measured independently by elastic recoil detection analysis to be about 1 × 10 16 atoms/cm 2 . The data do not support the hypothesis of hydrogen being chemically bound within the top layers of the DLC. Using two different models with a thin waterlike film on top of the substrate we obtain consistency between the temperature-dependent loss contribution and the measured hydrogen contamination.

The total scattering cross sections for slow neutrons with energies in the range 100 neV to 3 meV for solid ortho-2H2 at 18 and 5 K, frozen from the liquid, have been measured. The 18 K cross sections are found to be in excellent agreement with theoretical expectations and for ultracold neutrons dominated by thermal up scattering. At 5 K the total scattering cross sections are found to be dominated by the crystal defects originating in temperature induced stress but not deteriorated by temperature cycles between 5 and 10 K.

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