Flux peaking of 7–12 keV deuterons at channeling in TiD2 crystal and enhancement of neutrons yield in d(d,n)3He reaction

Abstract

To study the reactions between light nuclei (dd, pd, d3He, d4He) with an ultralow collision energy, there is a need in the information on the yield of neutrons in the reaction d(d,n)3He versus the angular and spatial distribution of particles during the channeling process in thin crystals. The authors of recent publications suppose that the increase in the yield of neutrons and the occurrence of the orientation effect are connected with the screening and channeling effects. In this paper, the probability of increasing the yield of neutrons is studied depending on the energy, the angular and spatial distribution, as well as on the focusing of the incident deuterons at the locations of embedded deuterons (so-called flux peaking effect) during the dd reaction in TiD2 crystals, using computational modeling. The trajectories of deuterons in the crystal were modeled using a computer code Basic Channeling with Mathematica™ (BCM-1.0). The results of the theoretical study concerning the effect of plane channeling of ultralow energy deuterons on the relative probability of dd-synthesis are in good agreement with the experimental data. To improve the efficiency of the neutrons yield, the direction and recommendations are given for future experimental studies.