Scattering of neutrons by α-particles at 14.1 MeV

Abstract

The angular distribution of 14.1 MeV neutrons elastically scattered by α-particles has been measured by observing the α recoils in a helium-filled cloud chamber. The results are in satisfactory agreement with those previously obtained by other authors. Inspection of the smallangle region of the measured distribution shows that phase shifts of orbital angular momentum higher than L=1 are not negligible, although, according to the present experiment, quantitative information on D-waves turns out to be somewhat elusive. The azimuthal angular distribution agrees well with the value P = 0.02 of the neutron beam polarization, as measured by Perkins.