Negative Pion Induced Fission with Heavy Target Nuclei

We investigate fission induced by negative pions in copper and bismuth targets using CR-39 dielectric track detectors. The target-detector assemblies in 4π-geometric configuration were exposed at the AGS facility of Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA. The exposed detectors were chemically etched under appropriate etching conditions and scanned to collect data in the form of fission fragments tracks produced as a result of interaction of pions with the target nuclei. Using the track counts, the experimental fission cross sections for copper and bismuth have been measured at energies of 500, 672, 1068 and 1665 MeV and compared with the calculation using the Cascade-Exciton Model code (CEM95). The values of fission probability based on experimental fission cross-sections have been compared with the theoretically calculated values of fission probabilities obtained using the CEM95 code. Good agreement is observed between the measured and computed results.