Fragment yields from the slow-neutron fission of241Am and241Pu

The study of f ragment mass yields f rom the thermal -neut ron f ission of 241Am is of in teres t for nuc lear physics. The isotope 241Am95 is an o d d e v e n isotope, and according to sys temat ics it should have a small thermal -neut ron f ission c ross section since the f ission ba r r i e r of the compound nucleus 242Am is higher than the binding energy of a neutron [1]. However, measurements show that 2tiAra occupies a special place among such isotopes since its thermal -neut ron f ission cross section is ve ry large 3.13 b [2]. In addition the compound nucleus 242Am has a spontaneously fissionable i somer . Therefore it is of great in te res t to compare the f ragment mass yield curves of the three fissionable sys tems having 242 nucleons but various numbers of protons in their nuclei: 241Amss(n , f), 241pu94(n , f), and 242CmsG (spontaneous fission).