XVI. Helium 3 reactions in nuclear photographic emulsions

Abstract

An attempt has been made to learn something of the kinds of nuclear reaction undergone by Helium 3 in the range of energy from 0 to 29 mev, by examining individual reactions taking place in nuclear emulsions. About 130 000 tracks produced by 30 mev ³He ions accelerated by the Birmingham University cyclotron were examined. Apart from deflections due to collisions with silver and bromine nuclei, 231 nuclear reactions were observed. Half of these represented close elastic collisions with light nuclei, including 102 with hydrogen nuclei. Among the others, reactions of the types (³He, n), (³He, α), (³He, d), (³He, t), (³He, 2p), (³He, pn) and (³He, αp) were definitely identified, while (³He, 2p2α) and (³He, αpn) were almost certainly so.