DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-024-01num-y

Abstract

To overcome the difficulty and expensive cost for some specific isotopic targets, a substitution method was proposed to measure the cross section of (γ, n) reactions. Considering that the natural copper element (natCu) only has ⁶³Cu and ⁶⁵Cu isotopes, the ⁶⁵Cu(γ, n)⁶⁴Cu reaction was taken as an example to test the substitution method. Using quasi-monoenergetic γ beams provided by the Shanghai Laser Electron Gamma Source (SLEGS) of the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), the ^natCu(γ, n) was measured from Eγ = 11.09 to 17.87 MeV. Furthermore, based on the previously measured ⁶³Cu(γ, n) reaction using the same experimental setup at SLEGS, the ⁶⁵Cu(γ, n)⁶⁴Cu was extracted using the substitution method, which was compared to the existing experimental data measured by bremsstrahlung and positron annihilation in-flight light sources, and the Talys2.0 toolkit predictions. The γ strength function (γSF) of ⁶⁵Cu is obtained from the ⁶⁵Cu(γ, n) data, and the reaction cross section of ⁶⁴Cu(n, γ) was further calculated.