Proton-induced fission on actinide nuclei at energies 27 and 63 MeV

Measurements of proton-induced fission on 232Th, 238U, 237Np, 239Pu and 241Am nuclei at proton energies of 26.5 MeV and 62.9 MeV were performed at the Louvain-la-Neuve cyclotron facility. Neutrons were detected with the multidetector DEMON. Mass and energy distributions of fission fragments, neutron angular distribution and multiplicities and total fission cross sections were determined. The relative contributions of pre-equilibrium neutron emission and compound nucleus evaporation, as well as of post-scission evaporation from the fission fragments were analyzed with moving multisource fits and were also compared with the predictions of the nuclear-reaction model code TALYS. Detailed comparisons with the data indicate that there is still room for improvement in this code.