Measurements of the Differential Cross Sections for the Elastic n-[superscript 3]H and n--[superscript 2]H Scattering at 14.1 MeV by Using an Inertial Confinement Fusion Facility

Abstract

For the first time the differential cross section for the elastic neutron-triton (n-[superscript 3]H) and neutron-deuteron (n-[superscript 2]H) scattering at 14.1 MeV has been measured by using an inertial confinement fusion facility. In these experiments, which were carried out by simultaneously measuring elastically scattered [superscript 3]H and [superscript 2]H ions from a deuterium-tritium gas-filled inertial confinement fusion capsule implosion, the differential cross section for the elastic n-[superscript 3]H scattering was obtained with significantly higher accuracy than achieved in previous accelerator experiments. The results compare well with calculations that combine the resonating-group method with an ab initio no-core shell model, which demonstrate that recent advances in ab initio theory can provide an accurate description of light-ion reactions.