Neutron capture cross sections of 70Zn and the decay of 71mZn

Abstract

Radiative neutron capture was studied in the ⁷⁰Zn(n,γ)^71m,gZn reaction in order to determine the thermal neutron capture cross sections for the reactions. The resonance integrals were also measured to facilitate corrections for the epithermal neutron component. In addition, cross sections for the ⁶⁴Zn(n,γ)⁶⁵Zn and ⁶⁸Zn(n,γ)^69mZn reactions were determined. Through high-resolution γ-ray spectrometry in the ^71mZn decay, a new set of γ-ray energies and intensities was obtained of roughly an order of magnitude greater precision than the previous set, and several transitions new to the decay scheme are proposed. The implications for the properties of the levels of ⁷¹Ga are discussed. More precise values of the decay half-lives for ^69mZn, ^71gZn, and ^71mZn have been determined.

Keywords: (64)Zn, (68)Zn, (70)Zn neutron capture cross sections; (69m)Zn, (71g)Zn, (71m)Zn half-lives; (71)Ga energy levels; (71m)Zn γ-ray spectrometry.