Photodisintegration of the Deuteron with 94-Mev Bremsstrahlung Radiation

Differential cross sections for the reaction $\gamma +d\to p+n$ have been determined at laboratory angles of 45°, 75°, 90°, and 135° for laboratory photon energies from approximately 50 to 90 Mev. At each of the above angles the energy spectrum of the recoil protons was determined with a counter telescope and a pulse-height analysis system. The low cross section for this reaction necessitates the reduction of background to a minimum. This was accomplished by the use of a gaseous target and a particle selection technique. The differential cross sections and the estimates of the parameters describing angular distributions are in reasonable agreement with recent calculations by de Swart and Marshak and by Zernik, Rustgi, and Breit.