N14(n, t)andN14(n, d)Angular Distributions at 14.7 MeV

Abstract

A triple-coincidence counter telescope consisting of two proportional $\mathrm{dE}$ counters and a solid-state $E$ detector was used to study the angular distributions of tritons and deuterons for the ground-state transitions of ${\mathrm{N}}^{14}$ induced by 14.7-MeV neutrons. The relative triton-to-deuteron peak yield was found to be about 0.3. The ($n, t$) angular distribution is compared with pickup theory and with two other deuteron-transfer interactions between the ground states of ${\mathrm{N}}^{14}$ and ${\mathrm{C}}^{12}$: the ${\mathrm{N}}^{14}(\ensuremath{\alpha}, {\mathrm{Li}}^{6})$ and ${\mathrm{N}}^{14}(d, \ensuremath{\alpha})$ reactions. In these reactions the orbital angular momentum of the picked-up deuteron is principally $L=2$, with a smaller contribution from $L=0$ pickup suggested by the data. In addition, the ${\mathrm{N}}^{14}(n, d)$ angular distribution is compared with the Gaussian-cutoff pickup theory, and with the ${\mathrm{N}}^{14}(p, d)$ reaction to the ground state of the mirror nucleus ${\mathrm{N}}^{13}$. The angular distributions, absolute magnitudes, and reduced widths of the two reactions are nearly identical, as expected. Cluster-model interpretations of the ${\mathrm{N}}^{14}$ data are discussed.