Statistical properties of 243Pu, and 242Pu(n,γ) cross section calculation

The level density and gamma-ray strength function (gamma SF) of Pu-243 have been measured in the quasicontinuum using the Oslo method. Excited states in Pu-243 were populated using the Pu-242(d, p) reaction. The level density closely follows the constant-temperature level density formula for excitation energies above the pairing gap. The gamma SF displays a double-humped resonance at low energy as also seen in previous investigations of actinide isotopes. The structure is interpreted as the scissors resonance and has a centroid of omega(SR) = 2.42(5) MeV and a total strength of B-SR = 10.1(15) mu(2)(N), which is in excellent agreement with sum-rule estimates. The measured level density and. SF were used to calculate the Pu-242(n,gamma) cross section in a neutron energy range for which there were previously no measured data.