Scattering of 14.5-Mev Neutrons by Complex Nuclei

Abstract

New measurements of the differential elastic scattering cross sections of C, Al, Fe, Cu, Sn, Pb, and U for 14.5-Mev neutrons are reported. For Fe, Cu, Sn, and Pb the angular range from 5\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} to 150\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} was investigated with \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} to \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}3\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} angular resolution. For the other elements a smaller angular range was investigated. Particular effort was devoted to the problem of discriminating against inelastically scattered neutrons and methods were developed which provided an experimental energy resolution of \ensuremath{\sim}500 kev. Limited differential cross section data for inelastically scattered neutrons of energy greater than 9 Mev are also presented for Fe, Cu, Sn, and Pb.