Direct Measurement of Zirconium-88 Neutron Capture at CERN n_TOF

Zirconium-88 has been found to have the second largest thermal neutron cross section of any isotope. This property was initially found by Shusterman et. al in 2019 and subsequently confirmed by a transmission, energy-resolved, measurement at Los Alamos National Laboratory Device for Indirect Capture Experiments on Radionuclides (DICER). This presentation reports on the first direct measurement of the Zr-88 capture cross section taken in August and September of 2024 at CERN's Neutron Time of Flight (n_ToF) Facility. The energy-resolved shape of the resonance which causes the massive cross section is determined with the time-of-flight technique. This presentation will give particular focus to the neutron beam transport and additional systematic uncertainties necessary for the final Single-Level Breit-Wigner parameter fit.