Cross-section measurements for disintegrations produced by deuterons in the heavy elements

The cross-sections have been measured for reactions produced by deuterons in platinum, gold, mercury, thallium, lead, bismuth, thorium and uranium, using deuterons of 9 MeV energy from the Cavendish cyclotron. The observed values of σ for the (d, p) reaction vary from 30 x 10-27 cm.2 for platinum to 5 x 10-27 cm.2 for uranium. The values for the (d, n) reaction are about one-fifth of those for the (d, p) reaction. Calculations of the cross-sections to be expected on theoretical grounds, have been made for two different values of the standard nuclear radius R0, namely, 2.0 x 10-13 and 1.47 x 10-13 cm. The experimental results are shown to favour the lower of these values.