A Setup for Measuring the Yields of the 17N Isotope and Delayed Neutrons in Reactions Induced by Protons with an Energy of 1 GeV

Abstract

We describe a method and a setup based on it which has been used to measure the production cross sections of the delayed-neutron precursors (⁹Li, ¹⁶C, and ¹⁷N) and the fractional delayed-neutron yields in interactions between relativistic protons with an energy of 1 GeV and target nuclei with mass numbers in the range of 12−238. Measurements have been made at the synchrocyclotron facility of the Petersburg Institute of Nuclear Physics (PNPI), Gatchina. The measured cross section for the generation of ¹⁷N nuclei versus the mass of target nuclei are shown as an illustration of the method. The fractional delayed-neutron yields in interactions of relativistic protons with ²³⁸U nuclei are also presented.