Measurement of neutron capture cross sections for the 174Yb(n,γ)175Yb reaction at thermal and epithermal energies

Herein, we measured the thermal neutron capture cross section (σ0) and resonance integral (I0) of the 174Yb(n,γ)175Yb reaction relative to those of the reference reaction 197Au(n,γ)198Au. Measurements were conducted based on the activation method using pulsed neutrons combined with the Cd ratio method and offline γ-ray spectrometry. Pulsed neutrons were generated on a 100 MeV electron linac of the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, Korea. Yb samples and Au monitors were irradiated with and without a 0.5 mm Cd cover to absorb thermal neutrons. The neutron flux was determined via the 115In(n,γ)116mIn reaction. The induced activities of the reaction products were measured using a gamma spectrometer based on a well-calibrated HPGe detector. For the 174Yb(n,γ)175Yb reaction, the thermal neutron capture cross section and resonance integral cross-section were obtained as σ0,Yb = 70.5 ± 4.2 b and I0,Yb = 54.1 ± 4.2 b, relative to the corresponding values of σ0,Au = 98.65 ± 0.09 b and I0,Au = 1550 ± 28 b for the 197Au(n,γ)198Au reference reaction. The obtained results were compared with the measured and evaluated data. •Cross sections of the 174Yb(n,γ)175Yb reaction were measured.•Neutron activation in combination with the Cd ratio method was employed.•197Au(n,γ)198Au reaction was used as a reference reaction.