Polarization in Neutron-Proton Scattering at 23.1 MeV

Abstract

A measurement of $n-p$ polarization has been made at 23.1 MeV neutron energy of higher precision and of greater angular range than data previously available. The $\mathrm{T}\mathrm{}(d,n)\mathrm{}{\mathrm{He}}^4$ reaction was used as a source of monoenergetic, highly polarized neutrons, and a solenoid was used to precess the incident spin polarization for the asymmetry measurements. The values of polarization for laboratory scattering angles of 25, 35, 45, 55, 65 and 75 deg were measured to be +0.0492±0.0140, +0.0529±0.0100, +0.0522±0.0071, +0.0310±0.0071, +0.0247±0.0090, and -0.0036±0.0090, respectively. The Basel sign convention is used. Comparison is made with several theoretical predictions and differences between theory and experiment are found to be small.