Nuclear Reactions Produced by Nitrogen on Boron and Oxygen

The following nuclear reactions were detected from the bombardment of elemental boron and oxygen by energetic nitrogen ions: (1) B¹⁰(N¹⁴, O¹⁵)Be⁹, (2) B¹⁰(N¹⁴, N¹³)B¹¹, (3) B¹⁰(N¹⁴, C¹¹)C¹³, (4) B¹⁰(N¹⁴, F¹⁸)Li⁶, (5) B¹¹(N¹⁴, p)Na²⁴, (6) O¹⁶(N¹⁴, 2p)Al²⁸, and (7) O¹⁶(N¹⁴, F¹⁸)C¹². The yields for these reactions were differentiated to obtain the cross sections as a function of energy. Reactions (2) and (3) can be identified as stripping reactions by comparison with similar proton-induced reactions and by comparison with previously studied nitrogen-induced reactions. Only a small part of reaction (1) seems to proceed through a stripping reaction although it should be similar to reaction (3). Reactions (1) and (4) are compared to proton-induced reactions in Na²³ which lead to the same residual radioactive nuclei. The nitrogen-induced reactions are more probable by factors of 4 and 2, respectively, after barrier corrections, indicating that the nitrogen-and proton-induced reactions proceed through somewhat different mechanisms. The reactions observed in the bombardment of oxygen are compared to proton-induced reactions in Si²⁹. The (N¹⁴, $2p$) and ($p, 2p$) excitation functions may be similar but the lack of barrier penetration calculations prohibits accurate comparisons.