An investigation of energy and emission probabilities of tritons and α-particles in the spontaneous fission of 252Cf

Abstract

The energy spectrum of α-particles in the ternary fission of 252Cf has been determined by two independent methods and that of tritons by just one. In the first method, long range alpha (LRA) particles and tritons were identified by a ΔE- E telescope, which consisted of two surface barrier detectors mounted in front of a 252Cf source. Here, the energy spectrum and the emission probability of both tritons and α-particles were determined. In the second, combinations of the cellulose nitrate plastic LR115 and various thicknesses of Al foil were used to measure the energy spectrum of LRA particles down to a 2 MeV cut-off. The results indicate that the shape of the α-particle energy spectrum is almost Gaussian and there is no significant variation from a Gaussian in the low-energy tail. The anisotropy i.e. N(0°) N(90°) for these LRAs was also investigated by this technique.