Abstract
This thesis describes the study of proton scattering from protons and light nuclei and the development of a self-supporting target of solid hydrogen for nuclear physics experiments. Differential cross-sections for the scattering of 144 MeV protons from hydrogen, deuterium, helium, lithium-6, lithium-7 and Carbon-12 around the Coulomb interference region (2° to 20°) have been measured. The measurements of the cross-section for proton- proton scattering were an extension of the measurements made by G.F. Cox et al. (1) and also a test for the feasibility of using a solid self-supporting hydrogen target, developed as part of this work, in Nuclear physics experiments. The measurements at cross-sections for light nuclei were made in order to test some simple nuclear models normally used to predict nuclear scattering, namely, the Born Approximation, W.K.B. Approximation and the construction of the optical model potentials from the two nucleon scattering matrix and the way the Coulomb interaction is included. Nucleon-nucleon scattering is reviewed in Chapter one together with the types of experiments required to determine the nucleon-nucleon interaction uniquely. Chapter two describes the construction of nucleon-nucleus interaction from nucleon-nucleon interactions and presents a set of formulae used for the final analysis of proton scattering from light nuclei. Chapter three deals with the experimental layout and the measurements of the quantities that finally lead to cross-sections. Chapter four describes the production and the development of a solid self-supporting hydrogen target. Finally chapter five gives the results of the experimental measurements and and interprets them in terms of the theoretical predictions. A separate study carried out during the first year at Surrey University is given in Appendix A and deals with the variation of optical model potential with the incident proton energy scattered from carbon in the range 100 MeV to 1000 MeV. A published report on this subject is also provided at the end of Appendix A. An incidental study on the production of K-shell X-rays by 160 MeV protons is attached to the thesis as an Appendix B.