Surrogate Measurement of the ⁸⁸Zr(n,γ)⁸⁹Zr Cross Section

There exist many radiative neutron-capture cross sections of interest to nuclear astrophysics, nonproliferation, and other applications that cannot currently be measured using direct measurement techniques.  One alternative is to use the surrogate-reaction method. This method uses a more feasible reaction relative to neutron capture to probe the same compound nucleus, studying the behavior of the system above and below the neutron-separation energy to gain insight into the competition between neutron evaporation and γ-decay. In this work, the surrogate method has been utilized to constrain the ⁸⁸Zr(n,γ)⁸⁹Zr cross section. Particle-γcoincidence measurements were conducted on a ⁹⁰Zr target using the STARLiTeR detector array. Coincidence data from the (p,d) reaction channel have been used to extract γ-decay probabilities that can be used in tandem with a calculated formation probability to constrain the neutron-capture cross section. Progress toward constraining the capture cross section will be presented.