Compton imaging for enhanced sensitivity (n,γ) cross section TOF experiments: Status and prospects

Radiative neutron-capture cross sections are of pivotal importance inmany fields such as nucle-osynthesis studies or innovative reactortechnologies. A large number of isotopes have been measured with highaccuracy, but there are still a large number of relevant isotopes whosecross sections could not be experimentally determined yet, at least withsufficient accuracy and completeness, owing to limitations in detectiontechniques, sample production methods or in the facilities themselves.In the context of the HYMNS (High-sensitivitY Measurements of keystellar Nucleo-Synthesis reactions) project over the last six years wehave developed a novel detection technique aimed at backgroundsuppression in radiative neutron-capture time-of-flight measurements.This new technique utilizes a complex detection set-up based onposition-sensitive radiation-detectors deployed in a Compton-cameraarray configuration. The latter enables to implement gamma-ray imagingtechniques, which help to disentangle true capture events arising fromthe sample under study and contaminant background events from thesurroundings. A summary on the main developments is given in thiscontribution together with an update on recent experiments at CERNn\_TOF and an outlook on future steps.