A determination of the effective thickness of a liquid deuterium target for a quasielastic scattering experiment

Abstract

The effective thickness of a liquid deuterium target was determined by measuring the yield of the neutron-deuteron elastic scattering cross section. The flux of incident neutrons was determined by a fission ionization chamber. The scattered deuterons were detected with a Delta E - E (thin plastic scintillator - thick CsI calorimeter) telescope. The effective target thickness was determined to be larger than is thought physically possible. Possible reasons for the unphysical result are discussed, but further analysis is needed to ascertain why the effective target thickness was determined to be an unphysical length.