Study of reactions of fast neutrons with nuclei with FIGARO at LANSCE

We present the new FIGARO facility under construction at the Weapons Neutron Research facility at LANSCE, for the measurement of γ rays and neutrons from interactions of fast neutrons with nuclei. A first measurement was performed in 1999 with 59Co, using a single germanium detector. Prompt γ rays from reactions with neutrons in the energy range from 1 to 200 MeV have been measured. Preliminary cross sections for γ transitions from (n,n'), (n,2n), (n,3n), (n, p), (n, np), (n,2np) and (n,α) reactions have been obtained. The results have been compared with existing data, and with calculations using the code GNASH. They indicate that with FIGARO high quality data can be obtained in the considered energy range