Experimental determination of photofission cross-sections of 232Th using electron accelerator

Photofission cross-section of 232Th was measured using Bremsstrahlung radiation energy 7.4–9.2 MeV with energy step of 0.3 MeV by employing Lexan polycarbonate film as Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors (SSNTD). The photon intensity from the Microtron accelerator facility was estimated to be 1010 photons/s at a distance of 15 cm from the Bremsstrahlung converter using EGS-4 code (Nelson et al., 1985). Photofission cross-sections were evaluated using fission fragment angular distribution measurements. The present experimental results were compared with EMPIRE-2.19 (Herman et al., 2005) code prediction of RIPL-1 and RIPL-2 (Mamdouh et al., 2001 and Mamdouh et al., 1998) and a new analytical formula (Gupta and Saxena, 2005) for fission barrier.

Research highlights► Properties of fission barrier of the actinide nuclei have come rom the study of sub threshold and near threshold Photofission cross-sections. ► Photofission cross-sections were evaluated using fission fragment angular distribution measurements. ► Fission fragment angular distribution of 232Th in the Bremsstrahlung radiation energy have been carried out by employing high efficiency Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors (SSNTD) technique.