The neutron capture cross section of $^{151}$Sm

The Detector for Advanced Neutron Capture Experiments (DANCE) is a 160-element 4$\pi $ barium fluoride array designed to study neutron capture on small quantities of radioactive material. It is located on a 20 meter neutron flight path, which views an ``upper tier'' water moderator at the Manuel J. Lujan Jr. Neutron Scattering Center at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE). The first radioactive isotope under investigation was $^{151}$Sm with a half-life of 100 years. $^{151}$Sm is an important branch point during the slow neutron capture nucleosynthesis. During the talk the detector will be described, and results for the neutron capture cross section on $^{151}$Sm between 10 meV and 100 keV will be presented.