Nuclear spectrometry of 9.6 h 196Aum2 and the reaction of 197Au with fast neutrons. (9th March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Moody, K J; Gharibyan, N; Shaughnessy, D A; Grant, P M; Gostic, J M; Cerjan, C J; Yeamans, C B; Despotopulos, J D; Faye, S A
• Is Part Of: Journal of physics. Volume 47:Number 4(2020:Apr.)
• Publication Date: 2020-03-09
• Subjects: nuclear spectrometry -- half-life -- isomer ratio -- gold -- fast neutrons; Nuclear physics -- Periodicals; Particles (Nuclear physics) -- Periodicals; Physique nucléaire -- Périodiques; Particules (Physique nucléaire) -- Périodiques; Kernfysica; Elementaire deeltjes; 539.7
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-6471/ab67e9
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0954-3899

Abstract

Abstract: The neutron activation of gold is the basis of an implosion performance diagnostic at the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In support of this diagnostic, a series of γ -ray spectrometric measurements of the decay of 196 Au m 2 ( J π = 12 − ) was performed to improve the currently accepted literature values of the nuclear data associated with its half-life, γ -ray energies, and γ -ray intensities. It was determined that 196 Au m 2 decays with a half-life of 9.603 h ± 0.23%. The relative intensities of the γ rays emitted during its decay were also measured, and an absolute decay branch of 0.3352 ± 2.9% was determined for the emission of the 188.2 keV photon, which arises from a nuclear transition whose multipolarity is predominantly M 1. Properties of other products arising in the reaction of 197 Au with fast neutrons were measured, as were selected production cross sections. The 196 Au m 2 / 196 Au g isomer ratio measured in the 197 Au( n, 2 n ) reaction at 14.1 MeV was found to be 0.0731 ± 2.6%.