Measurements of Neutron Capture Cross Sections for Gd Isotopes in the Energy Region from 10 keV to 90 keV.

The neutron capture cross sections of Gd isotopes (155Gd, 156Gd, 157Gd, and 158Gd) have been measured in the neutron energy range from 10 to 90 keV using the 3-MV Pelletron accelerator of the Research Laboratory for Nuclear Reactors at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Pulsed keV neutrons were produced from the 7Li(p,n)7Be reaction by bombarding the lithium target with the 1.5-ns bunched proton beam from the Pelletron accelerator. The incident neutron spectrum on a capture sample was measured by means of a TOF method with a 6Li-glass detector. Capture γ-rays were detected with a large anti-Compton NaI(Tl) spectrometer, employing a TOF method. A pulse-height weighting technique was applied to observed capture γ-ray pulse-height spectra to derive capture yields. The capture cross sections were obtained by using the standard capture cross sections of 197Au. The present results were compared with the previous measurements and the evaluated values of ENDF/B-VI. © 2006 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]