Benchmarking a surrogate reaction for neutron capture

Yb171,173(d,pγ) reactions are measured, with the goal of extracting the neutron capture cross-section ratio as a function of the neutron energy using the external surrogate ratio method. The cross-section ratios obtained are compared to the known neutron capture cross sections. Although the Weisskopf-Ewing limit is demonstrated not to apply for these low neutron energies, a prescription for deducing surrogate cross sections is presented. The surrogate cross-section ratios deduced from the Yb171,173(d,pγ) measurements agree with the neutron capture results within 15%. © 2010 The American Physical Society.