Neutron capture and total cross-section measurements and resonance parameter analysis of niobium-93 below 400 eV
Shunsuke Endo, A. Kimura, Shôji Nakamura, Osamu Iwamoto, Nobuyuki Iwamoto, Gerard Rovira, Kazushi Terada, Shin-ichiro Meigo, Y. Toh, Mariko Segawa, Makoto Maeda, Masayuki Tsuneyama
Abstract
Neutron capture yields and transmission ratios of 93Nb were measured by applying the time-of-flight method using the Accurate Neutron-Nucleus Reaction measurement Instrument of the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex. Nb metal foils were used as samples. Germanium gamma-ray and Li-glass neutron detectors were used for capture yields and transmission ratio measurements, respectively. The pulse height weighting technique was applied to deduce the capture cross-sections from 0.01 to 400 eV, and the thermal-neutron capture cross-section was determined to be 0.97 ± 0.11 b. The total cross-sections were derived from transmission ratios ranging from 0.2 to 400 eV. The resonance parameters of 93Nb below 400 eV were determined based on the obtained capture cross-sections and transmission ratios using the resonance analysis code, REFIT, and compared with the parameters given by past measurements and the evaluated nuclear data library, JENDL-4.0.