Eur. Phys. J. A (2018) 54: 153
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2018-12583-5

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Ytterbium (, n) average cross-sections data near to photodisintegration reaction threshold

Nuclear Physics Lab., School of Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), Thessaloniki, Greece

^* e-mail: stoulos@auth.gr

Received: 20 April 2018
Accepted: 10 August 2018
Published online: 19 September 2018

Abstract

The thick foils activation technique has been applied to estimate the average cross-sections of ^168,170,176Yb reaction near to photodisintegration threshold. The cross-sections are derived using the integrated photon flux at any energy range from the reaction threshold to the bremsstrahlung end-point energy. The photon flux is estimated using a calibration photodisintegration set of foils and taking in advance the spectrum linearity at high energies. The p-nuclei ¹⁶⁸Yb average cross-section is mb corresponding to MeV. The ¹⁷⁰Yb average cross section is mb matching MeV while the ¹⁷⁶Yb one is mb corresponding to MeV. The experimental results associate to statistical model simulations performed by the TALYS code. The simulated data of ¹⁶⁸Yb ranges 83–139 mb, while ¹⁷⁰Yb and ¹⁷⁶Yb vary between 89–152 and 84–170mb; which agree with the measurements within uncertainties. The simulated average cross-section of ^natYb reaction is mb corresponding to energy ranges 6.6-14 MeV. The simulation results based on Lorentzian -strength considerations with the density level of Fermi gas plus the constant temperature model are closest to the average cross-sections measured.