Photodisintegration of Deuterons at High Energies

Photodisintegration of deuterons has been investigated by use of the photon beam from the 342-Mev synchrotron at Berkeley. A liquid deuterium target was used. Protons were detected with a telescope consisting of either twelve or thirteen scintillation counters. The height of the pulse from one of the first counters and the number of subsequent pulses served to identify the protons and determine their energy.Differential cross sections were determined at laboratory angles of 36^∘{}, 49^∘{}, 75^∘{}, 106^∘{}, and 141^∘{} and at energies ranging from 136 Mev to 293 Mev, and curves of the form dσdΩ^'=A+Bcosθ^'+Ccos²θ^' were fitted to the experimental points at various energies. Total cross sections in the region of 70 {μ}b were obtained.A comparison with the results of similar experiments at other laboratories indicates that beam monitoring is within 10% agreement in absolute value between the Berkeley synchrotron and other synchrotrons.A method is described for experimentally measuring the nuclear attenuation correction inherent in range counters, rather than calculating the correction.