Hadron and Nuclear Physics with Electromagnetic Probes K. Maruyama and H. Okuno (Editors) 9 2000 Elsevier Science B.V.

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87

Photoneutron cross section measurement on 9Be by means of inverse Compton scattering of laser photons
H. Utsunomiya, Y. Yonezawa, H. Akimune, T. Yamagata and M. Ohta a M. Fujishiro b H. Toyokawa, and H. Ohgaki c Department of Physics, Konan University, Okamoto 8-9-1, Higashinada, Kobe 658-8501, Japan bOsaka Prefecture University, Gakuencho 1-2, Sakai, Osaka 599-8570, Japan CQuantum Radiation Div., Electrotechnical Laboratory, Umezono 1-1-4, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8568, Japan Photoneutron cross sections were measured for 9Be in the energy range from 1.8 to 4.0 MeV using a laser-electron MeV photon source. These cross sections are relevant to the reaction rate of the first step of c~-process, c~(an, ~/)gBe, in a neutrino-driven wind of core-collapse supernovae. R s lts for the 1/2 +, 5/2-, 1/2-, and 5/2 + states are presented in comparison with the data taken with other photon sources. 1. I N T R O D U C T I O N The neutrino-driven wind formed in core-collapse supernovae may be an ideal site for the r-process [1]. In this rapidly expanding environment, n- and c~-rich material is first processed into 9Be through c~(c~ n, -y)gBe by bridging mass gaps A = 5 and 8, which is followed by the 9Be(c~, n)12C. This sequence of I2C production proceeds more efficiently than the triple c~ process. The subsequent reaction network is considered to produce seed nuclei beyond 56Fe for r-process. 9Be is a loosely-bound nuclear system consisting of two c~'s and a neutron. Non of any two constituents alone can form a bound system. The lifetimes of 5He and SBe are 1.1 x 10 -91 sec and 0.97 x 10 -16 sec, respectively. Three adjacent thresholds exist at 1.573 MeV for c~ + a + n, at 1.665 MeV for aBe + n and at 2.467 MeV for 5He + c~. In view of the lifetimes, the synthesis of 9Be is considered to proceed more dominantly through SBe than through 5He in two successive binary processes. The ternary process is likely to play a minor role. Resonances near these thresholds determine the rate of the 9Be synthesis. Resonance parameters of these states can be obtained by photodisintegrating 9Be. Previously, photoneutron cross sections for 9Be were measured near thresholds using two kinds of real photon sources, Bremsstrahlung and radioactive isotopes. Bremsstrahlung measurements with a photon difference method lacked great accuracy due to poor energy resolution [2]. Measurements with radioactive isotopes (24Na, 2SA1, asC1, 5SCo, 65Ni, ssy, l~ 124Sb, 142'144pr and 2~ were limited below 2.75 MeV [3-8]. Low-lying states in

88 9Be were also investigated in electron scattering [9,10]. However, virtual photons populated the first excited state (1/2 + ) only very weakly. No single measurements provided data for all resonance states near thresholds (1/2 +, 5/2-, 1/2-, 5/2+).

2. E X P E R I M E N T A L

METHOD

2.1. v - r a y p r o d u c t i o n and n e u t r o n d e t e c t i o n Inverse Compton scattering of laser photons incident on relativistic electrons in the storage ring TERAS of the Electrotechnical Laboratory (ETL) produces quasi-monochromatic 7 rays in the energy range from 1 to 40 MeV [11]. This new MeV photon source, LEMPS (laser-electron MeV photon source), is available as a pencil-like beam typically with a flux of 104 p h o t o n s / s e c / m m 2 and energy resolution of a few %. The beam properties were previously investigated with an anti-Compton spectrometer [12]. A Nd:YLF laser (A - 1053 nm) was used. The laser system was operated at 1 kHz and produced 100 % linearly polarized light. Unpolarized light was also produced by passing polarized light through an optical element called depolarizer. Electron energy was varied from 314 MeV to 475 MeV to produce V rays in the energy range of 1.8 M e V - 4.0 MeV. 3' rays were collimated into 2 mm in diameter with a 20 cm thick Pb block at 5.5 m from a head-on collision point between electrons and laser photons. 7-ray energy was measured with a 155 cm 3 pure-Ge detector of coaxial type. A full energy peak was energy-calibrated with natural sources of 4~ and 2~ as well as a standard source of 6~ A 4 cm thick 9Be rod of 99.5 % enrichment (2.5 cm in diameter) was irradiated. Neutrons were measured with four 60 cmHg BFa counters (MITSUBISHI ND8534-60:2.5 cm in diameter x 24.1 cm in effective length) embedded in a 30 cm polyethylene cube. The BFa counters were located, two each vertically and horizontally, in a concentric ring at 7.5 cm from the beam axis. Neutron moderation time in the polyethylene was measured in 1 ms time range with an ORTEC 566 TAC module. Fig. 1 shows a moderation time distribution. Background neutrons, a time-independent component, made a minor contribution to the neutron measurement. Incident photons were detected directly with a BGO detector (2" in diameter x 6" in length) placed at the end of the beam line. Pile-up spectra were obtained for the photon beam pulsed at 1 kHz. The average number of photons per beam pulse was determined from the pile-up spectra with use of a single photon spectrum that was separately taken with a DC beam. The total number of photons was obtained from the frequency (lkHz) and the data acquisition time. Independent measurements were carried out with a DC beam, in which foreground neutrons and backgroundneutrons were measured before and after each measurement. The results of the pulsed- and DC-beam measurements agreed to each other within the accuracy of 5 %.

2.2. N e u t r o n d e t e c t i o n efficiency A 2.16 mCi 24Na (half-life 15 hours) was made by irradiating a 50 mg sample of NaOH for 15 minutes with thermal neutrons at the Research Reactor Institute of Kyoto University. It was mixed with 2 cm 3 D20 in an aluminum container (2 cm in diameter 4 cm in length). The 24Na beta-decay to the 4 + state in 24Mg with a 99.94 % branching ratio, producing 2754 keV 7 rays in transition to the 2 + transition. These 7 rays disintegrated deuterons and produced 265 keV neutrons. Contributions of other states in 24Mg

89

6
O

200

400 600 Channel Number

800

1000

Figure 1. Moderation time distribution for neutrons in a polyethylene cube. Full scale is 1 ms. The time constant for moderation is about 140 # sec. Background neutrons that arrived at BFa counters time-independently are clearly distinguished from photoneutrons of interest.

to neutron production were neglected because of small branching ratios. The absolute intensity of the 265 keV neutron source was determined with the water bath method [13]. The source was placed at the center of a 400 liter water bath. Neutron flux was measured from 2.5 cm to 17.5 cm in 2.5 cm steps with a 1.5 cm a BFa counter (MITSUBISHI ND8522-60). The efficiency calibration of the small counter for thermal neutrons had separately been done with the standard graphite pile at ETL [14]. Background neutrons were measured with the same counter covered by a 5 mm thick cadmium. Time elapsed during the measurement was corrected for. The source intensity at the time of production was determined to be 2.83 10a counts/sec/4rr. The neutron source was placed at the center of the neutron detector. A neutron counting was performed five times, each for 300 seconds, with two bare BFa counters and two Cdcovered counters. The contribution of background neutrons was very small. The detection efficiency thus determined for 265 keV neutrons was 1.67 -+- 0.09 % per BFa counter. The uncertainty stemmed from 1 % systematic error in neutron counting, 5 % in calibration of the small BFa counter and 1.7 % in determination of the source intensity. Fig. 2 shows the total emciency of the neutron detector as a function of neutron energy. The efficiency was also measured with a 252Cf source whose average neutron energy is 2.35 MeV. The energy dependence of the emciency was calculated with a Monte Carlo code MCNP [15]. 3. R E S U L T S Cross sections were obtained with a formula
O m_

Nn
N.ren(En)Nef '

(1)

90 12 10
24NaOH + D 0 2 MCNP Monte Carlo Cal.

252Cf

500

1000 n

1500

2000

2500

E (keY)

Figure 2. Neutron detection efficiency as a function of neutron energy. The efficiency was experimentally determined with sources of 24NaOH + D20 and 252Cf. The neutron energy dependence of the efficiency was calculated with the MCNP Monte Carlo code.

where Nn is the number of neutrons detected, N~ is the number of V rays incident on the BGO detector, Nt is the number of target nuclei per cm 2, and Cn(En) is the neutron detection efficiency. A correction factor, f, was needed for the measurement with a thick target.

f = et, t (1 - e - u t )

(2) '

#t

where # is the total v-attenuation coefficient in 9Be, and t is the length of the 9Be target material. The attenuation coefficient was taken from [16]. Fig. 3 shows measured photoneutron cross sections as a function of 7 energy. Note that results for unpolarized -~ rays (open circles) agree with those for polarized ones (solid circles) within statistical uncertainties. The present measurement fully covered the excitation-energy range of three resonances (5/2-, 1/2-, 5/2+), while it covered only a high-energy tail of the first excited state (1/2+). This is because as approaching to the 1.665-MeV threshold, it became difficult to accurately evaluate what fraction of the v-ray flux lay above the neutron threshold. A Monte Carlo calculation of the asymmetric energy spread of LEMPS may help deduce the necessary V flux. This will be done in the future. Currently, a least-square fit to the data is in progress to deduce resonance parameters (v-decay widths etc.) towards an evaluation of the relevant reaction rate.

91

2.0

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

1..5

o n + o A

..Q
v

E
N'

.....
i

Present results (polarized) Present results(unpolarized) Fujishiro et al. (1982) RI B.Hamermesh et a1.(1953) RI B.Russell et al. (1948) RI J.H.Gibbons et a1.(1959) RI W.John et a1.(1962) RI Jakobson et al. (1961) Bremss.

05

1.5

2.0

2.5
T

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

E (MeV)

Figure 3. Photoneutron cross sections for 9Be. For comparison, results of the preceding measurements with Bremsstrahlung and
radioactive isotopes are also shown.

4. A C K N O W L E D G M E N T We are indebted to Mr. K. Okamoto (Research Reactor Institute of Kyoto University) for his technical assistance in the irradiation of NaOH with thermal neutrons, to Mr. Y. Ogawa (Kinki University) for his help in running the MCNP code, and to Dr. K. Kudo (Electrotechnical Laboratory) for his cooperation in the detector calibration with the standard graphite pile. This work was supported by the Japan Private School Promotion Foundation.
REFERENCES

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

S.E. Woosley and R.D. Hoffman, Astrophys. J. 395 (1992) 202. M.K. Jakobson, Phys. Rev. 123 (1961) 229. B. Russel et al., Phys. Rev. 73 (1948) 545. B. Hamermesh and C. Kimball, Phys. Rev. 90 (1953) 1063. J.H. Gibbons et al., Phys. Rev. 114 (1959) 1319. W. John and J.M. Prosser, Phys. Rev. 163 (1967) 958. M. Fujishiro et al., Can. J. Phys. 60 (1982) 1672. M. Fujishiro et al., Can. J. Phys. 61 (1983) 1579. H.-G. Clerc et al., Nucl. Phys. A120 (1968) 441. G. Kuechler et al., Z. Phys. A326 (1987) 447.

92 11. H. Toyokawa et al., Nucl. Instr. and Methods in Phys. Res. A422 (1999) 95. 12. H. Ohgaki et al., IEEE Tran. Nucl. Sci. 38 (1991) 386. 13. Experimental nuclear physics, Vol. 2, edited by E. Segre (John. Wiley & Son, Inc., New York, NY 1978) p. 455. 14. Y. Inoue et al., Bull. Electrotech. Lab. 31 (1967) 60. 15. J.F. Briesmeister, MCNP, A General Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport Code, Version 4B, Las Alamos National Laboratory, 1997. 16. Engineering Compendium on Radiation Schielding, Vol. 1, edited by R.G. Jaeger, E.P. Blizard, A.B. Chilton, M. Grotenhuis, A. HSnig, Th. A. Jaeger, and H.H. Eisenlohr (Springer-Verlag New York Inc. 1968) p. 173.