Neutron capture cross section ofAm241

Abstract

The neutron capture cross section of $^{241}\mathrm{Am}$ for incident neutrons from 0.02 eV to 320 keV has been measured with the detector for advanced neutron capture experiments (DANCE) at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. The thermal neutron capture cross section was determined to be $665\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}33$ b. Our result is in good agreement with other recent measurements. Resonance parameters for ${E}_{n}l12$ eV were obtained using an $R$-matrix fit to the measured cross section. The results are compared with values from the ENDF/B-VII.0, Mughabghab, JENDL-3.3, and JEFF-3.1 evaluations. ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{n}$ neutron widths for the first three resonances are systematically larger by 5--15% than the ENDF/B-VII.0 values. The resonance integral above 0.5 eV was determined to be 1553\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}7 b. Cross sections in the resolved and unresolved energy regions above 12 eV were calculated using the Hauser-Feshbach theory incorporating the width-fluctuation correction of Moldauer. The calculated results agree well with the measured data, and the extracted averaged resonance parameters in the unresolved resonance region are consistent with those for the resolved resonances.