Photo-Disintegration of Deuterium by 4.5 to 20.3 Mev X-Rays

Abstract

A study is made of the angular distributions and the distribution in energy of the photo-protons arising from the photo-disintegration of deuterium by the continuous x-ray spectrum produced when electrons accelerated in the betatron to a kinetic energy of 20.3 Mev impinged on a 0.005 in. Pt target. The collimated x-ray beam passed through a deuterium gas-filled reaction chamber in which nuclear emulsions were placed to detect the resulting photo-protons. The angular distributions for six photon energy intervals are consistent with a differential cross section in the center of mass system of the form: $\sigma \left(\theta \right)\approx a+{sin}^2\theta (1+\alpha cos\theta )$. Assuming an intensity spectrum for the betatron radiation of the shape determined by Koch and Carter a curve for the relative cross section for the photo-disintegration of deuterium as a function photon energy was determined. This curve falls off more slowly than does the Bethe-Peierls expression. The discrepancy, however, is within the experimental errors and the uncertainties in the spectrum of the betatron radiation.