Abstract:
Radiative neutron capture cross-section and the resonance parameter are very important nuclear data in the field of the R&D of accelerator driven systems, the transmutation of nuclear waste and nuclear astrophysics. In the recent years, radiative neutron capture crosssections of important nuclides were mostly measured based on the white neutron source facilities, such as the CERN n_TOF, GELINA, LANSCE and so on. The back streaming white neutron beam line (Backn) of China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS) is the first white neutron facility in China, which can provide pulsed neutron beam with 25 Hz frequency in the energy region from thermal neutron to hundreds MeV. The main application of Backn is to perform nuclear data measurement, such as crosssection, reaction yield, nuclear structure, and so on. The C6D6 liquid scintillation detector is widely used for radiative neutron capture crosssection measurements on timeofflight facilities, because of its low neutron sensitivity and good time response. A C6D6 detection system with four detectors was installed at Backn to perform radiative neutron capture crosssection measurement, especially in the resonance energy region. In this work, the measurement of 169Tm(n,γ)170Tm reaction was performed with the C6D6 detection system at the Backn. The stable isotope of thulium, 169Tm, is one of the fission product poisons, which makes the accurate neutron radiative capture crosssection of 169Tm be of major significance for fission and fusion reactor design. Besides, the radioactivity induced by the reactions of 169Tm(n,γ)170Tm and 170Tm(n,γ) 171Tm makes the 169Tm to be an ideal spectrumsensitive activation detector for the neutron intensity diagnosis, in which the precise neutron capture crosssection is of critical importance. In the present measurement, the pulse height weighting technique was used to make detection efficiency be proportional to the excitation energy of the compound nucleus. The black filter method was used to determine the experimental background due to scattered neutron and inbeam gamma ray. The saturated resonance method was used to normalize the capture yield. The Rmatrix code SAMMY was used to fit the capture yield of 169Tm to obtain the resonance parameters, such as resonance energy, neutron width, radiative capture width, and so on. Then the radiative capture crosssection was calculated with the measured resonance parameters and ReichMoore approximation. For most energy region between 1 eV and 100 eV, the present measurement result is consistent with the recommended value of ENDF/BⅧ.0, but there were still some discrepancies between the measured crosssection and the evaluated data. According to the current results, the measurement and data analysis methods used in this work are suitable for the measurement of radiative capture crosssection and resonance parameter. However, in order to perform high precision measurement of radiative capture crosssection at Backn, the neutron flux and the energy resolution function still need to be determined more accurately.