Measurement of the energy-differential cross-section of the ¹²C(n,p)¹²B and ¹²C(n,d)¹¹B reactions at the n_TOF facility at CERN

Abstract

Although the ¹²C(n,p)¹²B and ¹²C(n,d)¹¹B reactions are of interest in several fields of basic and applied Nuclear Physics the present knowledge of these two cross-sections is far from being accurate and reliable, with both evaluations and data showing sizable discrepancies. As part of the challenging n_TOF program on (n,cp) nuclear reactions study, the energy differential cross-sections of the ¹²C(n,p)¹²B and ¹²C(n,d)¹¹B reactions have been measured at CERN from the reaction thresholds up to 30 MeV neutron energy. Both measurements have been recently performed at the long flight-path (185 m) experimental area of the n_TOF facility at CERN using a pure (99.95%) rigid graphite target and two silicon telescopes. In this paper an overview of the experiment is presented together with a few preliminary results.