Producing the 2H (d,n)3He reaction with the Houghton College Cyclotron

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
2022-04-08
Authors
Hotchkiss, Andrew
Bowman, Joshua
Yuly, Mark
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Houghton College
Abstract
The Houghton College Cyclotron accelerates ions inside of a 17 cm inner diameter evacuated aluminum chamber placed between the poles of a 1.2 T electromagnet. Very low pressure gas allowed into the evacuated chamber is ionized by electrons coming from a filament. Inside the chamber, a high voltage RF signal applied to a “dee” shaped electrode accelerates the ions each time they are between the dee and a grounded “dummy dee”, resulting in a spiral path because of the magnetic field. The cyclotron has successfully accelerated hydrogen, helium and most recently, deuterium. The deuterons were allowed to implant into a copper target, where they reacted via 2 H( d,n 3 He to produce neutrons which were detected using a plastic scintillator outside the vacuum chamber.
Description
Event
XL Annual Rochester Symposium for Physics Students, University of Rochester, April 8, 2022.
Keywords
Student Projects
Citation
Collections
Rights
Authors retain the copyright for all content posted in this repository. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed beyond the Houghton College community without permission except in accordance with fair use doctrine.