The B¹¹(He³, α)B¹⁰ reaction between 2.2 and 5.5 MeV

Abstract

The differential cross sections for the B¹¹(He³, α)B¹⁰ reactions leading to the ground state of B¹⁰ and to excited states at 0.72, 1.74 and 2.15 MeV have been measured as a function of bombarding energy between 2.2 and 5.5 MeV at laboratory angles of 15°, 90° and 165°. Angular distributions have been measured at bombarding energies of 2.35, 2.86, 3.42, 3.93, 4.50, 5.02 and 5.51 MeV. The total cross sections for these reactions have been obtained by integration of the angular distributions. The small variation of the angular distributions with energy and the strong forward peaking at the higher energies suggest that a direct interaction mechanism predominates. A comparison with the B¹¹(p, d)B¹⁰ and B¹¹(d, t)B¹⁰ reactions indicate that this mechanism is probably pick-up. There is some evidence for a compound nucleus contribution in the case of the reaction which leaves B¹⁰ in its second excited state at 1.74 MeV.