Photoneutron cross sections in 7Li

Photoneutron energy spectra from 7Li have been measured by time-of-flight methods, for bremsstrahlung end-point energies increasing in 2 MeV steps from 13 to 25 MeV. The ground-state and approximate first-excited-state differential cross sections at 90° have been obtained from 8.5 to 23 MeV. No pronounced fine structure has been observed. The measured branching ratio to the first excited state falls from an average value of 0.70 between 10.3 and 14.5 MeV to an average of 0.29 between 14.5 and 18 MeV, and rises again to an average of 0.38 between 18 and 23 MeV. This behaviour can be explained by a crude theoretical model in which 1p → 2s and 1p → 1d single particle transitions dominate below 18 MeV. The calculation predicts a branching ratio of 0.50 near threshold, falling to 0.23 at higher energies, in reasonable agreement with the experiment. The integrated value of the ground-state cross section up to 23 MeV is about (38.7 ± 3.9) MeV mb, while that for the first excited state is about (17.2 ± 3.4) MeV mb. Together they account for 39% of the exchange-augmented dipole sum of 7Li.