Elastic Scattering of Fast Neutrons by Tritium and He3

J. D. Seagrave, L. Cranberg, and J. E. Simmons
Phys. Rev. 119, 1981 – Published 15 September 1960
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Abstract

Differential cross sections have been obtained for the elastic scattering of neutrons by tritium and by He3 at En=1.0, 2.0, 3.5, and 6.0 Mev over the angular range 27° to 161° in the c.m. system. The Los Alamos large Van de Graaff accelerator and pulsed-beam time-of-flight facility were employed, and the scattering samples were contained in small thin-walled stainless steel spheres. One-third mole of He3 was contained at 5000 psi and one-half mole of tritium was prepared in the form of CaT2. Absolute cross sections were determined from a comparison with the scattering from a thin shell of CH2 at each energy, together with calibration of the relative sensitivity of the detector as a function of energy by the known forward yield of the T(p, n)He3 reaction. The angular distributions for n-T scattering are in excellent agreement with the calculations of Bransden, Robertson, and Swan based on a Serber exchange force. The n-He3 measurements favor qualitatively the Serber rather than the symmetrical exchange force used in the calculations, but the agreement is poorer than that obtained for n-T scattering. The polarization of elastically scattered 1-Mev neutrons was found to be less than 5% for both samples, unlike the strong polarization observed in n-He4 scattering.

  • Received 9 May 1960

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.119.1981

©1960 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

J. D. Seagrave, L. Cranberg, and J. E. Simmons

  • Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, University of California, Los Alamos, New Mexico

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Issue

Vol. 119, Iss. 6 — September 1960

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