Eur. Phys. J. A (2013) 49: 133
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2013-13133-5

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Mass-yield distributions of fission products from 20, 32, and 45 MeV proton-induced fission of ²³²Th

¹ Radiochemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, 400085, Mumbai, India
² Department of Physics, Kyungpook National University, 702-701, Daegu, Republic of Korea
³ Nuclear Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, 400085, Mumbai, India

^* e-mail: gnkim@knu.ac.kr

Received: 22 May 2013
Revised: 9 September 2013
Accepted: 13 September 2013
Published online: 24 October 2013

Abstract

The yields of various fission products in the 19.6, 32.2, and 44.8 MeV proton-induced fission of ²³²Th have been determined by recoil catcher and an off-line γ-ray spectrometric technique using the BARC-TIFR Pelletron in India and MC-50 cyclotron in Korea. The mass-yield distributions were obtained from the fission product yield using the charge distribution corrections. The peak-to-valley (P/V) ratio of the present work and that of literature data for ²³²Th(p,f) and ²³⁸U(p,f) were obtained from the mass yield distribution. The present and the existing literature data for ²³²Th(p,f), ²³²Th(n,f), and ²³²Th(γ,f) at various energies were compared with those for ²³⁸U(p,f), ²³⁸U(n,f), and ²³⁸U(γ,f) to examine the probable nuclear structure effect. The role of Th-anomaly on the peak-to-valley ratio in proton-, neutron-, and photon-induced fission of ²³²Th was discussed with the similar data in ²³⁸U. On the other hand, the fine structure in the mass yield distributions of the fissioning systems at various excitation energies has been explained from the point of standard I and II asymmetric mode of fission besides the probable role of even-odd effect, A/Z ratio, and fissility parameter.