Deuteron Compton Effect

Abstract

Elastic scattering by deuterons of photons between 190 and 250 MeV has been measured by exposing a liquid deuterium target to the bremsstrahlung beam of the University of Illinois 300-MeV betatron. The scattered photons were detected by a lead glass total absorption-type Čerenkov counter, and the recoil deuterons were momentum analyzed in a magnetic field and detected by a scintillation counter telescope. The observed cross sections in the center-of-momentum system, in Thomson proton units of ${\left(\frac{e^2}{M_p}\right)}^2=2.35\mathrm{}\times {10}^{-32\mathrm{}}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^2$/sr, are, for a photon c.m. scattering angle of 140°, 0.879±0.10 at 189 MeV and 0.751±0.11 at 219 MeV; and for a photon c.m. scattering angle of 110°, 0.943±0.13 at 218 MeV and 1.47±0.26 at 250 MeV. These values are compared with those using the neutron and proton amplitudes predicted by dispersion relations and employing the impulse approximation, and with the exception of the point at 189 MeV are found to be consistent with the theoretical calculations.