Validation of neutron capture cross section on 68Zn in the vicinity of the inelastic scattering threshold

Abstract

To investigate the energy dependence of the neutron capture cross section on 68Zn close to the inelastic scattering threshold, we measured the 68Zn(n,γ)69Znm reaction cross section at 1.12 ± 0.11, 1.40 ± 0.11, 1.62 ± 0.10 and 2.42 ± 0.09 MeV using the 7Li(p,n)7Be reaction as neutron source. The spectrum averaged neutron energy was computed using the neutron energy spectrum code EPEN and the neutron flux was normalized using the 115In(n,n’)115Inm monitor reaction. The data analysis was carried out using the latest decay data. Necessary corrections have been made for the low energy background neutron contribution and γ-ray self-attenuation. After performing detailed uncertainty propagation, the newly measured cross sections are compared to previously published data found in the EXFOR database as well as to theoretical model predictions using TALYS-2.0 with different level density models and γ-ray strength functions, and also with the most recent nuclear data evaluations, JENDL-5, ENDF/B-VIII.1, and JEFF-4.0. The present work significantly reduces the uncertainty to 6% compared to previously reported values ranging from 11% to 19%. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025.