Photofission and photoneutron measurements on 241Am between 5 and 10 MeV

Abstract Measurements are presented of the photofission and photoneutron cross sections of 241 Am and of the mean number v of neutrons per fission between 5 and 10 MeV. The measurements were carried out using a bremsstrahlung beam generated by the Harwell electron linear accelerator HELIOS and a 1.5 g metallic 241 Am target. Neutron multiplicity distributions were recorded using a high-efficiency neutron detector. Yield measurements made in steps of 50 keV show possible evidence for a resonance at 6.1 MeV in the photofission cross section, but the statistical significance is not high.