Excitation functions of (n,p) and (n,2n) reactions of tantalum, rhenium, and iridium in the neutron energy range up to 20 MeV

The excitation functions for (n,p) and (n,2n) reactions up to 20 MeV on Tantalum, Rhenium, and Iridium have been calculated using the TALYS-1.9 nuclear reaction model code. Different level density models have been used to get a good agreement between the calculated and measured data. In the present work, we have carried out the TALYS-1.9 calculations to quantitatively understand the experimental data by optimizing input parameters for ¹⁸¹Ta(n,p)¹⁸¹Hf, ¹⁸¹Ta(n,2n)¹⁸⁰Ta, ¹⁸⁵Re(n,p)¹⁸⁵mW, ¹⁸⁵Re(n,2n)¹⁸⁴Re,¹⁹¹Ir(n,p)¹⁹¹Os and ¹⁹¹Ir(n,2n)¹⁹⁰Ir. Theoretical results have been compared with the experimental data (taken from the EXFOR database) up to 20 MeV. Also, the results have been compared with the ENDF/B-VIII.0 and TENDL-2015 evaluated data. (author)