Updated neutron-multiplicity sorting method for producing photoneutron average energies and resolving multiple firing events

Photoneutron measurements in the Giant Dipole Resonance region have been recently performed using quasimonochromatic Laser Compton Scattering γ-ray beams at NewSUBARU (Japan) for 59Co, 89Y, 103Rh, 139La, 159Tb, 165Ho, 169Tm, 181Ta, 197Au and 209Bi. Experimental (γ,xn) with x = 1–4 photoneutron cross sections have been obtained with a direct neutron-multiplicity sorting method associated to a flat-efficiency neutron detector, which operates under single firing conditions obtained by low reaction rates. In this paper, we discuss recent developments to the neutron-multiplicity sorting procedure dedicated to (i) resolving multiple firing events and to (ii) extracting the average energies of (γ,xn) photoneutrons. The method is tested on 159Tb experimental data.