Cross sections of the ¹⁴⁸Sm(<i>n</i>,<i>α</i>)¹⁴⁵Nd reaction in the 4.8–5.3 MeV neutron energy range*

Abstract The cross sections of the 148 Sm( n , α ) 145 Nd reaction were measured for the first time at neutron energies ranging from 4.8 to 5.3 MeV. The experiment was carried out on the Van de Graaff accelerator EG–5 at the Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. Fast neutrons were produced via the 2 H( d , n ) 3 He reaction with a deuterium gas target. A twin gridded ionization chamber was used as the charged particle detector, with back–to–back 148 Sm samples mounted on tantalum backings at the common cathode. The absolute neutron flux was measured using the 238 U 3 O 8 sample. The obtained cross section data were compared with those from existing nuclear data libraries and theoretical calculations using the TALYS–1.96 code. The present results for the 148 Sm( n , α ) 145 Nd reaction are expected to resolve discrepancies among various nuclear evaluation data.