Polarization of Neutrons from theD(d, n)He3Reaction

Abstract

Angular distributions of the polarization of neutrons from the $\mathrm{D}(d, n){\mathrm{He}}^{3}$ reaction have been obtained at several deuteron energies from 1.9 to 3.7 MeV. The polarization at 45\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} c.m. ranged from -0.109\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.013 at 1.9 MeV to -0.027\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.015 at 3.7 MeV. Similar measurements presently available in the literature are reviewed and shown to fall into two conflicting sets, one of which is confirmed by the present measurement. All presently available angular distributions of the differential polarization have been fitted to the expansion ${P}_{1}(\ensuremath{\theta})\ensuremath{\sigma}(\ensuremath{\theta})=\ensuremath{\Sigma}{n}^{}{a}_{n}sin2n\ensuremath{\theta}$, and except for a previous measurement at 0.375 MeV, there is no evidence for terms of higher order than $n=2$ in the expansion. The coefficients of this expansion have been tabulated to permit interpolation of the differential polarization over deuteron energy and reaction angle.