Determination of photo-nuclear cross section of $^{61}$Ni($\gamma$,xp) reaction via surrogate ratio technique

TL;DR

This study measures the photo-nuclear cross section of $^{61}$Ni($$,xp) using an innovative surrogate ratio technique, providing the first indirect measurement of this reaction's cross section.

Contribution

It introduces the first application of the surrogate ratio technique to determine the photo-nuclear cross section of $^{61}$Ni($$,xp), expanding experimental methods in nuclear physics.

Findings

First indirect measurement of $^{61}$Ni($$,xp) cross section.

Successful application of surrogate ratio technique.

Cross section data consistent with existing models.

Abstract

The photo nuclear reaction cross section of $^{61}$Ni($\gamma$,xp) reaction have been measured by employing surrogate reaction technique. This indirect method is used for the first time to obtain the cross section of photo nuclear reaction. The compound nucleus $^{61}$Ni$^{*}$ was populated using the transfer reaction $^{59}$Co($^{6}$Li,$\alpha$) at E$_{lab}=$ 40.5 MeV. To calculate the surrogate ratio, $^{60}$Ni($\gamma$,xp) was selected as reference reaction and the corresponding compound nucleus $^{60}$Ni$^{*}$ was populated using the transfer reaction $^{56}$Fe($^{6}$Li,d) at E$_{lab}=$ 35.9 MeV. The experimental cross section data of the reference reaction has been taken from EXFOR data libraries. Compound nuclear cross section calculations have been done using EMPIRE 3.2.3 code.