Prompt Fission Neutron Emission in Resonance Fission of 239Pu.

The prompt neutron emission probability from neutron-induced fission in the resonance region is being investigated at the time-of-flight facility GELINA of the IRMM. A double Frisch-gridded ionization chamber is used as a fission-fragment detector. For the data acquisition of both the fission-fragment signals as well as the neutron detector signals the fast digitization technique has been applied. For the neutron detection, large-volume liquid scintillation detectors from the DEMON collaboration are used. A specialized data analysis program taking advantage of the digital filtering technique has been developed to treat the acquired data. Neutron multiplicity investigations for actinides, especially in resonance neutron-induced fission, are rather scarce. They are, however, important for reactor control and safety issues as well as for understanding the basic physics of the fission process. Fission yield measurements on both 235U and 239Pu without prompt neutron emission coincidence have shown that fluctuation of the fission-fragment mass distribution exists from resonance to resonance, larger in the case of 235U. To possibly explain these observations, the question now is whether the prompt neutron multiplicity shows similar fluctuations with resonance energy. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]