Eur. Phys. J. A (2015) 51: 150
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2015-15150-8

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Fission product yield distribution in the 12, 14, and 16 MeV bremsstrahlung-induced fission of ²³²Th

¹ Radiochemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, 400085, Mumbai, India
² Department of Physics and Center for High Energy Physics, Kyungpook National University, 702-701, Daegu, Republic of Korea
³ Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, 01328, Dresden, Germany

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

Received: 15 June 2015
Accepted: 14 October 2015
Published online: 24 November 2015

Abstract

The absolute cumulative yields of various fission products in the 12, 14, and 16 MeV bremsstrahlung-induced fission of ²³²Th were determined using a recoil catcher and an off-line -ray spectrometric technique using the ELBE electron linac of Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf in Dresden, Germany. The mass chain yields were obtained from the absolute cumulative yields by correcting the charge distribution. The peak-to-valley ratio, average light mass () and heavy mass () values, and average number of neutrons () in the bremsstrahlung-induced fission of ²³²Th at different excitation energies were obtained from the mass chain yield data. The present study and existing literature data for the ²³²Th(, f) reaction are compared with similar data for the ²³⁸U(, f) reaction at various excitation energies, and surprisingly different behavior was found in the two fissioning systems.