Excitation Functions for Alpha-particle Reactions on Fe⁵⁶ and Fe⁵⁷

Abstract

Excitation functions for the (α, pn), (α, p2n), (α, 3n) and (α, αpn) reactions on Fe⁵⁶ and the (α, αp) reaction on Fe⁵⁷ were measured by the activation method using a stacked-foil technique, the alpha-particle energies ranging from 17 to 40 MeV. The measured excitation functions for the alpha-particle reactions on Fe⁵⁶ (present work) were compared with those for the proton reactions on Co⁵⁹ (Sharp et al.); the compound nucleus Ni⁶⁰ being the same for two cases. The comparison gives a test of the validity of compound nucleus theory. The ratios of corresponding cross sections seem to agree well with the theory (except in the case of resulting Co⁵⁷). However, it may be seen that the two curves corresponding to the same residual nucleus in each case do not entirly coincide in energy.