Measurement of the neutron-induced fission cross section of 230Th at the CERN n_TOF facility

The neutron-induced fission cross section of Th-230 has been measured atthe neutron time-of-flight facility n\_TOF located at CERN. Theexperiment was performed at the experimental area EAR-1 with a neutronflight path of 185 m, using Micromegas detectors for the detection ofthe fission fragments. The Th-230(n, f ) cross section was determinedrelative to the U-235(n, f ) one, covering the energy range from thefission threshold up to 400 MeV. The results from the present work arecompared with existing cross-section datasets and the observeddiscrepancies are discussed and analyzed. Finally, using the code EMPIRE3.2.3 a theoretical study, based on the statistical model, was performedleading to a satisfactory reproduction of the experimental results withthe proper tuning of the respective parameters, while for incidentneutron energy beyond 200 MeV the fission of( 230)Th was described byMonte Carlo simulations.