Transmutation of the Separated Isotopes of Neon by Deuterons

Under bombardment by 2.6-Mev deuterons, neon is observed to emit a large yield of protons which fall into at least four groups of energy change values 1.02, 2.15, 3.13, and 4.88 Mev. To assign these to the appropriate isotope, samples of neon enriched in Ne²² and Ne²⁰ prepared by the thermal diffusion method were bombarded with the result that all groups are found to correspond to excited states of Ne²¹. The reaction involved is Ne²⁰(dp)Ne²¹. The maximum energy of the protons leads to the value 21.00017 for the mass of Ne²¹. The bombarded gas was found to be radioactive and the presence of Ne²³ due to Ne²²(dp)Ne²³ and Na²¹ due to Ne²⁰(dn)Na²¹ was established. By absorption the beta-rays from Ne²³ were found to consist of a single group of maximum energy 4.1 Mev which leads to a probable value of 23.0010 for the mass of Ne²³.