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Neutron-induced fission reactions play a crucial role in a variety of fields of fundamental and applied nuclear science. In basic nuclear physics they provide important information on properties of nuclear matter, while in nuclear technology they are at the basis of present and future reactor designs. Finally, there is a renewed interest in fission reactions in nuclear astrophysics due to the multi-messenger observation of neutron star mergers and the important role played by fission recycling in r-process nucleosynthesis. Although studied for several decades, many fundamental questions still remain on fission reactions, while modern applications and the development of more reliable nuclear models require high-accuracy and consistent experimental data on fission cross sections and other fission observables. To address these needs, an extensive fission research programme has been carried out at the n_TOF neutron time-of-flight facility at CERN during the last 18 years, taking advantage of the high energy resolution, high luminosity and wide energy range of the neutron beam, as well as of the detection and data acquisition systems designed for this purpose. While long-lived isotopes are studied on the 185 m long flight-path, the recent construction of a second experimental area at a distance of about 19 m has opened the way to challenging measurements of short-lived actinides. This article provides an overview of the n_TOF experimental programme on neutron-induced fission reactions along with the main characteristics of the facility, the various detection systems and data analysis techniques used. The most important results on several major and minor actinides obtained so far and the future perspectives of fission measurements at n_TOF are presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fission cross section of 232 Th has been measured at fast neutron energies, using a setup based on Micromegas detectors. The experiment was performed at the 5.5 MV Van de Graaff Tandem accelerator in the neutron beam facility of the National Centre for Scientific Research "Demokritos". The quasi-monoenergetic neutron beams were produced via the 3 H(p,n), 2 H(d,n) and 3 H(d,n) reactions, while the 238 U(n,f) and 235 U(n,f) reactions were used as references, in order to acquire cross-section data points in the energy range 2–18 MeV. The characterization of the actinide samples was performed via α -spectroscopy with a Silicon Surface Barrier (SSB) detector, while Monte Carlo simulations with the FLUKA code were used to achieve the deconvolution of the 232 Th α peak from the α background of its daughter nuclei present in the spectrum. Special attention was given to the study of the parasitic neutrons present in the experimental area, produced via charged particle reactions induced by the particle beam and from neutron scattering. Details on the data analysis and results are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cross section of the 193Ir(n, 2n)192Ir reaction has been determined by means of the activation technique, relative to the 27Al (n, α ) and 197Au(n, 2n) reference reactions cross sections, at neutron beam energies ranging from 10 to 21 MeV. The quasi-monoenergetic neutron beams were produced at the 5.5 MV Tandem T11/25 Accelerator Laboratory of NCSR "Demokritos" via the 2H(d, n) and 3H(d, n) reactions. The induced γ -ray activity of the irradiated target and reference foils was measured with high resolution HPGe detectors. In order to correct for the contribution of the 191Ir(n, γ )192Ir reaction, which is open to low energy parasitic neutrons, a recently developed analysis method was implemented and it is presented in great detail. Furthermore, cross section theoretical calculations were carried out using the EMPIRE and TALYS codes over a wide energy range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U neutron-induced fission cross-section has been measured at incident neutron energies of 452, 550, 651 keV and 7.5, 8.7, 10 MeV using the Li ( p, n) and the H( d, n) reactions, respectively, relative to the U( n, f ) and U( n, f ) reference reactions. The measurement was performed at the neutron beam facility of the National Center for Scientific Research 'Demokritos', using a set-up based on Micromegas detectors. The active mass of the actinide samples and the corresponding impurities were determined via $ \alpha$ -spectroscopy using a surface barrier silicon detector. The neutron spectra intercepted by the actinide samples have been thoroughly studied by coupling the NeuSDesc and MCNP5 codes, taking into account the energy and angular straggling of the primary ion beams in the neutron source targets in addition to contributions from competing reactions ( e.g. deuteron break-up) and neutron scattering in the surrounding materials. Auxiliary Monte Carlo simulations were performed making combined use of the FLUKA and GEF codes, focusing particularly on the determination of the fission fragment detection efficiency. The developed methodology and the final results are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Correction to this paper has been published: 10.1140/epja/s10050-021-00590-w [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]