Determination of the 209Bi(n, γ)210Bi and 209Bi(n, γ)210m,gBi reaction cross sections in a cold neutron beam

Gamma-ray transitions following neutron capture in Bi-209 have been studied at the cold neutron beam facility of the Budapest Neutron Centre. Measurements have been performed using a coaxial HPGe detector with Compton suppression. Partial capture cross sections at a velocity of 2200 m/s (or a neutron energy of 25.3 meV) have been deduced relatively to the one for the 4055 keV transition after thermal neutron capture in Bi-209. This partial cross section of (8.07 +/- 0.14) mb has in turn been obtained from measurements with a bismuth nitrate target relatively to the cross section for the 1884 keV transition after thermal neutron capture in N-14. Shell model calculations have been performed to deduce the half-life of the 3rd excited state at 320 keV and to assign the M I multipolarity of the 320 keV transition to the ground state. Lower limits of (21.4 +/- 0.8) mb and (18.2 +/- 0.7) mb for the cross sections to the ground state and to the isomeric state, respectively, have been deduced from the data for the gamma rays feeding these states. The results obtained in this work are in good agreement with experimental data reported in the literature. The thermal total capture cross section has been compared with the contribution due to observed s-wave resonances. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.