Speaker
Michael Heil
(Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Institut f\"ur Kernphysik)
Description
The neutron time of flight (n\_TOF) facility at CERN is a neutron spallation source
with a flight path of 187 m. A proton beam from the CERN PS
with an energy of 20 GeV, an intensity of $7 \times 10^{12}$
protons/pulse and a pulse width of 6 ns is focused on a lead
spallation module. A white neutron beam is produced
which covers fully the energy range of
interest for capture cross section measurements
relevant in nuclear astrophysics, in particular
for $s$-process nucleosynthesis.
The measuring station at 187 m from the spallation
module allows for time-of-flight measurements with
very high energy resolution in a low-background
environment. The extremely high instantaneous neutron
flux and the low repetition frequency of the proton
beam is best suited for capture cross section measurements
on radioactive samples.
This contribution gives an overview of the neutron capture
measurements on isotopes of Mg, Zr, La, Sm, Os, Pb, and Bi
relevant for nuclear astrophysics.
Author
Michael Heil
(Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Institut f\"ur Kernphysik)
Co-author
The n\_TOF Collaboration
