Measurement of the Isomeric Yield Ratio of Zirconium-89m from Zirconium-88 Thermal Neutron Absorption

In light of the recently observed 800,000 barn thermal neutron absorption cross section of zirconium-88, this work investigates the fraction (isomeric yield ratio) of metastable versus ground state production of zirconium-89 and implications for ongoing measurements around zirconium-88 neutron absorption. The metastable state of zirconium-89 resides at 588 keV above the ground state with a half life of 4.2 minutes. A 5 $\mu$Ci zirconium-88 sample was irradiated for 10 minutes in the core of a TRIGA Mark II nuclear research reactor and measured with a high purity germanium detector 3 minutes after irradiation. The isomeric yield ratio was measured to be 74.9$\pm$0.6\%.