Cross section and resonance strengths of the ¹⁹ F(p, αγ)¹⁶ O reaction in the energy range E _p = 0.8–3.6 MeV

Abstract

An excitation function of the ¹⁹ F(p, αγ)¹⁶ O reaction has been measured over the proton beam energy range E_p=0.8–3.6 MeV using a 4π NaI summing spectrometer. The absolute efficiency of this spectrometer was determined by Monte Carlo simulations. The results from the efficiency calculations have been experimentally confirmed by measuring known resonances of three nuclear reactions. The properties EinR, ГinR, σinR and ωγ have been extracted for ten narrow resonances (Г ≤ 20 keV) by analysing the excitation function and taking into account all the involved effects such as target thickness, beam energy distribution and energy straggling. Total cross section vs. proton energy has been obtained for the rest of the excitation curve, where the thickness and stoichiometry of the targets was determined by using three nuclear analytical techniques.