Measurement of excitation functions for nat Cu(α,x) reactions with detailed covariance analysis

The excitation functions of $^{66}$Ga, $^{67}$Ga, $^{65}$Zn and $^{64}$Cu radioisotopes produced via alpha-induced reaction on $^{nat}$Cu were measured using a stacked-foil activation method. The gamma-ray activity produced by the above-mentioned radionuclides was measured using the HPGe detector. The covariance analysis was performed to quantify the measured cross-section uncertainties as well as the correlation between different alpha energy cross sections. A covariance matrix and cross-sections for the $^{nat}$Cu($\alpha$,x)$^{66}$Ga, $^{nat}$Cu($\alpha$,x)$^{67}$Ga, $^{nat}$Cu($\alpha$,x)$^{65}$Zn and $^{nat}$Cu($\alpha$,x)$^{64}$Cu nuclear reactions in the projectile energy range of 15–37 MeV are reported in the present work. The measured reaction cross sections are compared with the existing experimental data and theoretically simulated results from the TALYS code.