Experimental cross section of the ¹⁶⁴Dy(n,γ)¹⁶⁵Dy reaction at the neutron energy of 0.0372 eV using Neutron Diffraction Facility

Abstract

The neutron capture cross section for the 164Dy(n,γ)165Dy reaction at 0.0372 eV energy was measured using the horizontal channel (Neutron Diffraction Facility) of Es-Salam nuclear research reactor in Birine-Algeria. The Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) technique using 197Au(n,γ)198Au as reference reaction was adopted. The γ ray spectra for the Dy2O3 target powder and two thin gold foil were detected for the Germanium Hyper Pure coupled in the Genie 2000 data acquisition software. A resulting σ-value (2198.5 ± 94) b was measured for the thermal neutron cross section after correcting the thermal neutron self-shielding and γ attenuation effects. The measured value was then compared to the evaluated cross sections reported in two different libraries of neutron databases ENDF/B-VIII.0 and JEFF-3.3. The measured data at 0.0372 eV has been extrapolated to the energy of 0.0253 eV assuming 1/ν dependence in the thermal energy region and the result was compared with the fully measured values reported in the literature.