Photo-Disintegration of the Deuteron

Abstract

A study of the photo-disintegration of the deuteron using a cloud chamber as a detector has been made for gamma-ray energies of 6.14 and 7.00 Mev from the $F(p,\alpha ){\mathrm{O}}^{16*}$ reaction. By observing the number of photo-disintegration protons and the number of electron pairs formed in the gas (C${\mathrm{D}}_4$) of the cloud chamber, the ratio of the photo-disintegration cross section to the pair cross section is obtained. Assuming a calculated value for the pair cross section these data yield $\sigma \left[D\right(\gamma ,p\left)n\right]=25.7(14\mathrm{} \mathrm{percent}\mathrm{P}.\mathrm{E}.\mathrm{})\times {10}^{-28\mathrm{}}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^2$ at an average gamma-ray energy of 6.55 Mev.