HE-3 INDUCED CHARGED-PARTICLE REACTIONS FOR OXYGEN ANALYSIS

Oxygen analysis by ion beam techniques has traditionally been performed using Rutherford backscattering (RBS) or nuclear reaction analysis, using the deuteron reaction O-16(d, p) O-17 at deuteron energies around 1 MeV. Recently, the use of He-3 ions for oxygen analysis has become more popular. The He-3 reactions have several advantages, namely, low backgrounds for oxygen detection, low neutron production and, like deuteron reactions, high Q values. This paper discusses data for thick targets, for three main groups of He-3 induced reactions on oxygen, (He-3, alpha), (He-3, p) and (He-3, p-gamma), for incident ion energies between 2 and 3 MeV.