THE 0¹⁶(p,૪)F¹⁷ REACTION

• Main Author: Robertson, Lyle Purmal
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2012
• Subjects: Protons; Gamma rays; Nuclear physics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/40175

The differential cross section for direct radiative capture of protons by 0¹⁶ has been measured using ice targets of known thickness and 800 kev. protons. The differential cross section for the gamma ray transition to the first excited state in F¹⁷ was found to be (10.4 ± 1.3) x 10⁻⁻³² cm² per steradian at 90° to the incident proton beam direction. At the same energy, the ratio of the differential cross section at 90° for transitions to the ground state to that for transitions to the first excited state in F¹⁷ was found to be o.14 ± 0.03. The energy of the first excited state in F¹⁷ was determined by measuring the energy of the gamma ray from this level to the ground state. This method is difficult because of the presence of positron annihilation radiation of the same energy, within experimental errors, from the decay of F¹⁷. The first excited state energy was also measured by noting the difference between the capture gamma rays to this state and to the ground state. The energy of this level was found to be 0.50 ± 0.01 Mev. in agreement with the results of Marion and Bonner (55) and with earlier results obtained in this laboratory (Warren et. al., (54), An attempt to confirm that the source of the 873 kev. radiation from proton bombardment of natural oxide targets above 1.8 Mev. bombarding energy was the 0¹⁷(p, p',૪)0¹⁷ reaction, was made using separated 0¹⁶ and 0¹⁷ targets. The results were inconclusive due to the small percentage of oxygen that stuck to the targets and to the presence of several contaminants. === Science, Faculty of === Physics and Astronomy, Department of === Graduate