Fission Excitation Functions for Charged Particles

Absolute fission excitation functions have been measured with an ionization chamber to detect the pulse of a recoiling single fragment. In the experiment performed, the 60-in. Crocker cyclotron deuterons and alpha-particles were used with ${\mathrm{Th}}^{232}$, ${\mathrm{U}}^{235}$, and ${\mathrm{U}}^{238}$ targets. Thresholds of these reactions were also observed. The maximum alpha-particle energy used was 33.5 Mev and the maximum deuteron energy was 17.5 Mev. Beam current was integrated with a Faraday cup and an ionization chamber.