Neutron capture studies of uranium oxide targets prepared by spin-coating assisted combustion*

Neutron capture data of actinides are of interest for basic nuclear science as well as applications including the  study of the advanced nuclear fuel cycle and stockpile stewardship. For these, data on actinide nuclei is obtained by nuclear experiments and one of the essential requirements for getting reliable and precise data from experiments is robust, uniform and cost-efficient actinide targets. The conventional target making methods do not meet these requirements for actinides targets. High quality uranium targets were developed by combining spin coating and combustion synthesis and the performance was tested in a neutron capture experiment at LANSCE located at LANL. The targets showed consistent performance throughout the radiative neutron capture experiment without a sign of degradation. A number of surface characterization techniques (X-ray fluorescence, a-spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy) has been carried out to inspect the target characteristics before and after the experiment. We checked on the sustainability and robustness of the targets that we produced. TEM reveals emergence of porous structures  on the beam front surface of the targets after irradiation. The impact of porous structure on nuclear science experiments is yet to be determined.