Neutron-Induced Gamma-Ray Production in Zinc for Incident-Neutron Energies of 4.9, 5.4, and 5.9 MeV

Interactions of neutrons with zinc have been studied by measuring gainma-ray-production cross sections. For a sample of natural zinc, spectra were obtained for incident-mean-neutron energies, E_n = 4.9, 5.4, and 5.9 MeV with gamma-ray detector systems utilizing coaxial Ge(Li) detectors. Nearly monoenergetic neutrons were obtained from the D(d, n) reaction using deuterons obtained from the (pulsed) Oak Ridge National Laboratory 5-MV Van de Graaff accelerator. Time-of-flight was used to discriminate against pulses due to neutrons and background radiation. Gamma-ray identification was aided by obtaining spectra for samples enriched in the isotopes ⁶⁴Zn and ⁶⁸Zn, and new information on the level structure of ⁶⁴Zn is reported. These cross sections have been compared, where possible, with previous comparable measurements with generally satisfactory results.