Reaction Cross Sections on Carbon for Neutron Energies from 11.5 to 19 MeV

Neutron-induced reaction cross sections for carbon are measured in the 11.5- to 19-MeV energy range. The response of an NE-213 scintillation detector is measured in steps of at least 0.5 MeV for monoenergetic neutrons, applying suitable time-of-flight techniques, and compared with Monte Carlo simulations. The total cross sections of all reactions with charged particles (except carbon recoil protons) in the exit channel are determined with respect to the n-p scattering cross section. In addition, the ¹²C(n,n′3α) reaction is investigated for neutron energies of 11.9, 12.9, 14.0, 14.8, 17.0, and 19.0 MeV using the nuclear emulsion technique. As it is kinematically complete, this measurement yields the total and partial cross sections for the various channels of the ¹²C(n,n′3α) reaction. The experimental data show deviations of up to ±25% from those recommended in ENDF/B-V, while a recent evaluation by Axton is partially confirmed. Reasonable agreement is found with most of the recent scattering experiments; thus, this data set represents a valuable constraint for further evaluations. The analysis performed, however, has shown that additional data for some partial reaction cross sections are needed.