The Angular Distribution of Neutrons from the (d, n) Reaction in Light Elements

A proton recoil chamber with a thick polythene layer was used to determine the angular distribution of the neutrons from thick targets of various light elements bombarded with 8 MeV. deuterons. In all cases a pronounced forward maximum in intensity was found, the half width of the distribution decreasing with increasing atomic number. The absolute intensity of neutrons in the forward direction decreases as the atomic number increases but the dependence on atomic number is not a smooth function. Most elements show the presence of multiple forward peaks. In a few elements the effect of reducing the incident deuteron energy was investigated.