Measurement of neutron-capture cross section and capture γ-ray spectrum of 105Pd(n,γ)106Pd reaction

Abstract

We measured the neutron-capture cross section and the capture γ-ray spectrum of the 105Pd(n,γ)106Pd reaction with about 550 keV neutrons produced from the 7Li(p,n)7Be reaction at a 3-MV Pelletron accelerator. The capture yields of the palladium or gold sample were obtained by applying a pulse-height weighting technique to the corresponding net capture γ-ray pulse-height spectra. The neutron-capture cross section of the 105Pd(n,γ)106Pd reaction was determined with errors less than 5 % by using the standard capture cross sections of 197Au. The neutron-capture γ-ray spectrum was obtained by unfolding the observed capture γ-ray pulse-height spectra. Theoretical calculations of cross sections and γ-ray spectra with the Empire code have been performed by utilizing the Hauser-Feshbach statistical model. The calculated results have a good agreement with present measurements.