https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-025-01621-6
Regular Article - Experimental Physics
Determination of thermal neutron capture cross-section of cerium isotopes
1
Manipal Center for Natural Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, 576104, Manipal, India
2
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, 95123, Catania, Italy
3
Applied Physics Department, School of Science, ITM SLS Baroda University, 391510, Vadodara, India
4
Department of Physics, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, 576104, Manipal, India
5
Physics Department, Faculty of Science, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, 390002, Vadodara, India
6
Reactor Physics Design Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, 400085, Mumbai, India
7
Homi Bhabha National Institute, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, 400094, Mumbai, India
8
Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Ettore Majorana, Universitá di Catania, 95123, Catania, Italy
9
Nuclear Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, 400085, Mumbai, India
Received:
11
November
2024
Accepted:
11
June
2025
Published online:
28
June
2025
The thermal neutron capture cross-section of cerium isotopes 
Ce and 
Ce, were measured with detailed covariance analysis using naturally occurring cerium oxide samples. We conducted irradiation with an Am–Be neutron source at the Manipal Institute of Technology and performed offline gamma-ray measurements via High Purity Germanium (HPGe) Detector. The neutron spectrum from the irradiation location was obtained by employing multiple foil activation techniques and spectrum unfolding methods. The present results provide precise thermal neutron capture cross-section data with detailed covariance analysis. The measured cross sections, 
barns for Ce and 
barns for cerium-142, are compared with previous measurements and with the latest available evaluated nuclear libraries. It is observed that the presently measured thermal cross-section values of Ce and Ce are lower than the evaluated data but have higher accuracy compared to the previous measurements with larger uncertainties. Further, the measured thermal neutron capture cross-section values of Ce and Ce isotopes are in good agreement with the previous measurements than the evaluations. Thus, the current state of nuclear data evaluation requires improvement for cerium isotopes.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
