Tensor polarization of deuterons passing through matter

Abstract

It is shown that the magnitude of tensor polarization of the deuteron beam, which arises owing to the spin dichroism effect, depends appreciably on the angular width of the detector that registers the deuterons transmitted through the target. Even when the angular width of the detector is much smaller than the mean square angle of multiple Coulomb scattering, the beam’s tensor polarization depends noticeably on rescattering. When the angular width of the detector is much larger than the mean square angle of multiple Coulomb scattering (as well as than the characteristic angle of elastic nuclear scattering), tensor polarization is determined only by the total reaction cross sections for deuteron–nucleus interaction, and elastic scattering processes make no contribution to tensor polarization.