EXPERIMENTAL CROSS-SECTION OF SM-144(ALPHA, GAMMA)GD-148 AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE P-PROCESS

The cross section of the Sm-144(alpha, gamma) Gd-148 reaction has been measured at bombarding energies in the 10.5-13.4 MeV range using an a ctivation method based on the off-line alpha-activity measurement of t he Gd-148 residual nucleus. The long measuring time of the alpha-decay has required the use of etched track detectors. The resulting cross s ections and astrophysical S-factors are compared to new statistical mo del calculations. The measured data at low energies reflect the strong energy dependence of the optical potential which is found to affect s ignificantly our predictions of the alpha-capture rate.