Low energy deuteron-induced reactions on Fe isotopes

Abstract

The activation cross sections for production of $^{51}\mathrm{Cr}$, $^{52,54,56}\mathrm{Mn}$, $^{59}\mathrm{Fe}$, and $^{55,56,57,58}\mathrm{Co}$ radioisotopes in deuteron-induced reactions on natural Fe were measured at deuteron energies up to 20 MeV. Then, within an extended analysis of deuteron interactions with ${}^{\mathrm{nat}}$Fe, all processes from elastic scattering until the evaporation from fully equilibrated compound system have been taken into account. Following the available elastic-scattering data analysis that supports the deuteron optical potential for reaction cross sections calculations, increased attention is paid especially to the breakup (BU) mechanism and direct reactions (DR). The deuteron activation cross-section analysis is completed by consideration of the preequilibrium and compound-nucleus contributions, corrected for decrease of the total reaction cross section due to the leakage of the initial deuteron flux towards BU and DR processes. The overall agreement of the measured data and model calculations validates the description of nuclear mechanisms taken into account, particularly the strong effects of direct interactions that have still not been appropriately considered within previous deuteron activation evaluations.