A MEASUREMENT OF THE NE-22(N,GAMMA)NE-23 CAPTURE CROSS-SECTION AT A STELLAR TEMPERATURE OF KT = 25KEV

The capture cross section of Ne-22 has been determined by a fast cyclic activation technique. The measurements were carried out at the Karlsruhe 3.75 MV pulsed Van de Graaff accelerator using the Li-7(p, n) reaction close to the reaction threshold to generate neutrons with a distribution resembling a Maxwell spectrum of kT = 25 keV. The activation samples consisted of a mixture of enriched Ne-22 (99.9%) and natural Kr-gas contained in stainless steel spheres (20 mm diameter and 0.5 mm wall thickness). The activity of the samples was counted with a high-resolution Ge(Li) detector via the characteristics 439 keV Ne-23 gamma-ray line. The Ne-22 capture cross section at kT = 25 keV was found to be 66.0 +/- 5.0 mu-barn.