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Title: Photofission and photoneutron cross sections and photofission neutron multiplicities for /sup 233/U, /sup 234/U, /sup 237/Np, and /sup 239/Pu

Journal Article · · Phys. Rev. C; (United States)

The photonuclear cross sections for /sup 233/U, /sup 234/U, /sup 237/Np, and /sup 239/Pu have been measured from threshold up to 18 MeV. The source of radiation was the monoenergetic photon beam from the annihilation in flight of fast positrons. The branching among the neutron-producing reaction channels was determined by measuring the photofission prompt neutron multiplicities nu-bar/sub p/. One interesting result is the complete absence of any (..gamma..,2n) cross section for /sup 233/U and /sup 234/U. The values of nu-bar/sub p/(E) for /sup 234/U agree with those measured with neutrons incident on /sup 233/U. The parameters of the giant dipole resonance deduced from the total photonuclear cross sections show that these nuclei have large static deformations, as expected. The integrated photofission cross sections are large (as are the absolute fission probabilities), and account for 60% to 80% of the total photonuclear absorption strength.

Research Organization:
Department of Physics, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052
OSTI ID:
6895161
Journal Information:
Phys. Rev. C; (United States), Vol. 34:6
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English