Prompt gamma rays from triton-induced reactions on oxygen and their use for analysis

Abstract

Triton-induced reactions on oxygen were studied with a view to using the prompt γ-rays for analytical purposes. Five γ-rays were found to be potentially useful, of which three had a high intensity, the n(1, 0), n(2, 0) and p(1, 0) γ-rays, the other two being the n(3, 0) and the unresolved pair α(1, 0)–α(2, 0). The γ-rays are labelled according to the conventions(a,b), wheres is the light prompt product and the γ-photon is emitted by de-excitation from levela tob in the heavy product nucleus. The method had a relative precision of 2 to 3.5% for surface oxygen concentrations from 50 to 3 μg/cm². The sensitivity with 1 900 keV tritons was 0.13 μg/cm² on surfaces of steel or copper which did not yield interfering γ-rays, but 0.45 μg/cm² on aluminium where interfering γ-rays were emitted.