Measurement of cross section of (n, γ) reaction for, iodine, sodium and vanadium in the energy range 1 keV to 4 MeV using accelerator based neutron source

•The neutron cross sections were measured at continuous energy spectrum.•The cross sections of reactions have been calculated using the TALYS-1.2 and EMPIRE nuclear models codes.•The calculations were carried out using different choices of the level density.

The cross sections of 127I(n, γ)128I, 23Na(n, γ)24Na and 51V(n, γ)52V reactions for Iodine, sodium and vanadium were measured at continuous energy spectrum using a Microtron accelerator based neutron source. In this case, the bremsstrahlung radiation emitted by impinging 6 MeV electrons on the e–γ primary target (tungsten) was allowed to fall on the γ–n secondary target (beryllium) to produce continuous neutrons. The optimization of bremsstrahlung and neutron producing targets along with their spectra were estimated using FLUKA code. The cross sections of 127I(n, γ)128I, 23Na(n, γ)24Na and 51V(n, γ)52V reactions over the neutron energy from 1 keV to 4 MeV have been also calculated using the TALYS-1.2 and EMPIRE nuclear model codes. The variations of the cross sections with the level densities and effective imaginary potentials were studied to obtain the best fit of the excitation function. It is observed that the experimental cross sections for iodine, sodium and vanadium are in good agreement with the TALYS-1.2 and EMPIRE codes.