Spin-dependent cross sections from the three-body photodisintegration ofHe3at incident energies of 12.8 and 14.7 MeV

Abstract

The first measurement of the three-body photodisintegration of polarized $^{3}\mathrm{He}$ using a circularly polarized photon beam has been performed at incident energies of 12.8 and 14.7 MeV. This measurement was carried out at the high-intensity $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray source located at Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory. A high-pressure $^{3}\mathrm{He}$ target, polarized via spin exchange optical pumping with alkali metals, was used in the experiment. The spin-dependent double- and single-differential cross sections from $\stackrel{P\vec}{{}^{3}\text{He}}(\stackrel{P\vec}{\ensuremath{\gamma}},n)pp$ for laboratory angles varying from ${30}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ to ${165}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ are presented and compared with state-of-the-art three-body calculations. The data reveal the importance of including the Coulomb interaction between protons in the three-body calculations.