Method to subtract the effect of interference reactions that produce same product nucleus on the cross-section measurements of the target nuclear reaction and the cross-section of the 183W(n,p)183Ta reaction around 14 MeV neutrons

Abstract

For the problem of two or more nuclear reactions producing the same product nucleus in the actual cross section measurements of nuclear reactions, the method was given for subtracting the effect of interference reactions that produce same product nucleus on the cross-section measurements of the target nuclear reaction. The cross-section values were measured for the 183W(n,p)183Ta reaction at four different neutron energies from 13.5 to 14.8MeV by using the activation technique. In the process of the calculating cross-section data, the effects of the interference reactions 184W(n,d)183Ta and 184W(n,n+p)183Ta were subtracted by using the above method. At the same time the effect of the 186W(n,α)183Hf 183Ta process was also subtracted by using the previously developed method. Analysis and comparison shows that our experimental cross-section values for the 183W(n,p)183Ta reaction agrees with the previous results in the case of using the samples of enriched 183W at the close energies. Discrepancies in the previous cross-section data of the 183W(n,p)183Ta reaction were clarified and the recommendation excitation function curve for the 183W(n,p)183Ta reaction was given by adopting the nuclear theoretical model program system TALYS–1.95.