Measurement of the differential cross sections and angle-integrated cross sections of the 6Li(n, t)4He reaction from 1.0 eV to 3.0 MeV at the CSNS Back-n white neutron source * * Supported by National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFA0401604), National Natural Science Foundation of China (11775006), Science and Technology on Nuclear Data Laboratory and China Nuclear Data Center

Abstract

The 6Li(n, t)4He reaction was measured as the first experiment involving neutron-induced charged particle emission reactions at the CSNS (China Spallation Neutron Source) Back-n white neutron source. The differential cross-sections of the 6Li(n,t)4He reaction at 15 detection angles ranging from 19.2° to 160.8° are obtained from 1.0 eV to 3.0 MeV at 80 neutron energy points; for 50 energy points below 0.1 MeV they are reported for the first time. The results indicate that the anisotropy of the emitted tritium is noticeable above En = 100 eV. The angle-integrated cross-sections are also obtained. The present differential cross-sections agree in general with the previous evaluations, but there are some differences in the details. More importantly, the present results indicate that the cross-sections of the 6Li(n, t)4He reaction might be overestimated by most evaluations in the 0.5 − 3.0 MeV region, although they are recommended as standards below 1.0 MeV.