We measured the production of 57Co, 54Mn, 68Ge, 65Zn, and 60Co in an sample of Ge enriched in isotope 76 due to high-energy neutron interactions. These isotopes are critical in understanding background in Ge detectors used for double-beta decay experiments. These isotopes are produced by cosmogenic-neutron interactions in the detectors while they reside on the Earth's surface. We compared the measured production to that predicted by cross-section calculations based on CEM03.02. The cross section calculations over-predict our measurements by approximately a factor of 2-3 depending on isotope. We then use the measured cosmic-ray neutron
ux and our results to predict the cosmogenic production rate with an accuracy near 15%.
Revised: August 31, 2015 |
Published: November 16, 2010
Citation
Elliott S.R., V. Guiseppe, B.H. LaRoque, R.A. Johnson, R.A. Johnson, and S.G. Mashnik. 2010.Fast-Neutron Activation of Long-Lived Isotopes in Enriched Ge.Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics 82. doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.82.054610