Am neutron capture cross section in the keV region using Si and Fe-filtered neutron beams

Rovira Leveroni, G.   ; Kimura, Atsushi   ; Nakamura, Shoji  ; Endo, Shunsuke   ; Iwamoto, Osamu  ; Iwamoto, Nobuyuki  ; Katabuchi, Tatsuya*; Kodama, Yu*; Nakano, Hideto*

The neutron capture cross-section of Am was measured in the keV neutron range using the recently implemented neutron filtering system of the Accurate Neutron-Nucleus Reaction Measurement Instrument (ANNRI) beamline in the Materials and Life Science (MLF) facility of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). Filter arrays consisting of 20 cm of Fe and Si were employed in separate measurements to provide filtered neutron beams with averaged neutron energies of 23.5 (Fe), 51.5 and 127.7 (Si) keV. The present Am results were obtained relative to the Au neutron capture yield by applying the total energy detection principle together with the pulse-height weighting technique. The Am neutron capture cross section was determined as 2.72 0.29 b at 23.5 keV, 2.14 0.26 b at 51.5 keV and 1.32 0.10 b at 127.7 keV with total uncertainties in the range of 8 to 12, much lower in comparison to the latest time-of-flight experimental data available.