Precise measurements of nuclear data using an associated particle imaging system

Neutron-induced gamma ray reactions including both inelastic scattering (n,n'g) and radiative capture (n,g) are important in several applications of applied nuclear physics that require non-destructive elemental assays of unknown materials.Interpreting these gamma ray measurements requires precise knowledge of the energy and angle dependent reaction probabilities (cross sections, sigma). However, there are large gaps and inconsistencies in public databases for several common elements that are relevant for most applications. These shortcomings can be addressed via a focused effort to benchmark nuclear data libraries and models with experimental datasets to identify and ultimately fix underlying library and model deficiencies. Specifically, we decided to focus on measuring inelastic scattering reactions at 14 MeV incident neutron energy because of the wide use of Deuterium-Tritium (DT) sources. In this work, we present proof-of-concept measurements of (n,n'g) cross sections with an Associated Particle Imaging (API) system that allows a significant reduction in systematic uncertainties via accurate neutron flux measurements.