Cross section of the ⁶⁵Cu(γ, n)⁶⁴Cu reaction based on the quasi-monoenergetic γ-ray source at SLEGS

To overcome the difffculty and high cost of some speciffc isotopic targets, a substitution method was proposed to measure the cross section of the (γ, n) reactions. Considering that the natural copper element (natCu) only has 63Cu and 65Cu isotopes, the 65Cu(γ, n) 64Cu reaction was taken as an example to test the substitution method. Using quasi-monoenergetic γ beams provided by the Shanghai Laser Electron Gamma Source (SLEGS) of the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF),natCu(γ, n) was measured from Eγ = 11.09 MeV to 17.87 MeV. Furthermore, based on the 63Cu(γ, n) reaction measured using the same experimental setup at SLEGS, 65Cu(γ, n) 64Cu was extracted using the substitution method. The abundance variation of natural copper, showing a signiffcant inffuence on the cross section, was also investigated. The results were compared to the existing experimental data measured by bremsstrahlung and positron annihilation in-ffight sources, and the TALYS 2.0 predictions. The γ strength function (γSF) of 65Cu was obtained from the 65Cu(γ, n) data, and the reaction cross section of 64Cu(n, γ) was further calculated.