Neutron-induced light charged particle production in carbon at 96 MeV

Abstract

Differential cross sections of charged particle production, i.e., p, d, t, 3He-ions and α-particles, in 96 MeV neutron–carbon interactions have been measured at laboratory angles in the range 20° to 160° in steps of 20°. The experimental techniques are described as well as the procedures for acquisition, analysis, reduction and correction of the data. Results including double differential, energy-differential, angle-differential and total particle production cross sections are reported and constitute the first data set with five ejectiles at such a high neutron energy. Thanks to the low-energy thresholds, 50% of the production cross section of α-particles, and 85% of the production cross sections of protons and deuterons, could be measured. For α-particles, the measured fraction is much higher than what has been achieved earlier at lower energies. The results on the hydrogen isotopes agree fairly well with a previous measurement at 95 MeV and with recent GNASH calculations. For the helium isotopes, however, there are important discrepancies in spectral shape and magnitude between the new results and the model calculations.