Neutron-induced Cross Sections of Actinides via the Surrogate-reaction Method

Abstract The surrogate-reaction method is an indirect way to determine cross sections for reactions that proceed through a compound nucleus. This technique may enable neutron-induced cross sections to be extracted for short-lived nuclei that otherwise cannot be measured. However, the validity of the surrogate method has to be investigated. In particular, the direct component of the surrogate reaction and the J π dependence of the decay probabilities may question the method. In this work we study the reactions 238 U(d,p) 239 U, 238 U( 3 He,t) 238 Np, 238 U( 3 He, 4 He) 237 U as surrogates for neutron-induced reactions on 238 U, 237 Np and 236 U, respectively, for which good quality data exist. The experimental set-up enabled the measurement of fission and gamma-decay probabilities. The first results are hereby presented.