Determining neutron capture cross sections with the Surrogate Reaction Technique: Measuring decay probabilities with STARS

Neutron-induced reaction cross sections are sometimes difficult to measure due to target or beam limitations. For two-step reactions proceeding through an equilibrated intermediate state, an alternate "surrogate reaction" technique [J.D. Cramer and H.C. Britt, Nucl. Sci. Eng. 41, 177 (1970), H.C. Britt and J.B. Wilhelmy, Nucl. Sci. Eng. 72, 222 (1979), W.Younes and H.C. Britt, Phys. Rev. C 67, 024610 (2003)] can be applicable, and is currently undergoing investigation at LLNL. Measured decay probabilities for the intermediate nucleus formed in a light-ion reaction can be combined with optical-model calculations for the formation of the same intermediate nucleus via the neutron-induced reaction. The result is an estimation for overall (n,γ/n/2n) cross sections. As a bench-mark, the reaction 92Zr(α, α′), surrogate for n+91Zr, was studied at the A.W. Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory at Yale. Particles were detected in the silicon telescope STARS (Silicon Telescope Array for Reaction Studies) and γ-ray energies measured with germanium clover detectors from the YRAST (Yale Rochester Array for SpecTroscopy) ball. The experiment and preliminary observations will be discussed.