Statistical properties of Pu 243 , and Pu 242 ( n , γ ) cross section calculation

• Published in: Physical review. C 2016-01, Vol.93 (1), Article 014323
• Main Authors: Laplace, T. A., Zeiser, F., Guttormsen, M., Larsen, A. C., Bleuel, D. L., Bernstein, L. A., Goldblum, B. L., Siem, S., Garotte, F. L. Bello, Brown, J. A., Campo, L. Crespo, Eriksen, T. K., Giacoppo, F., Görgen, A., Hadyńska-Klȩk, K., Henderson, R. A., Klintefjord, M., Lebois, M., Renstrøm, T., Rose, S. J., Sahin, E., Tornyi, T. G., Tveten, G. M., Voinov, A., Wiedeking, M., Wilson, J. N., Younes, W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2469-9985; 0556-2813; 2469-9993; 1089-490X
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.93.014323

The level density and γ -ray strength function (γ SF) of 243Pu have been measured in the quasicontinuum using the Oslo method. Excited states in 243Pu were populated using the 242Pu(d,p) reaction. The level density closely follows the constant-temperature level density formula for excitation energies above the pairing gap. The γ SF displays a double-humped resonance at low energy as also seen in previous investigations of actinide isotopes. The structure is interpreted as the scissors resonance and has a centroid of ωSR = 2.42(5) MeV and a total strength of BSR = 10.1(15) μ2 N , which is in excellent agreement with sum-rule estimates. The measured level density and γ SF were used to calculate the 242Pu(n,γ ) cross section in a neutron energy range for which there were previously no measured data.