Angular distribution of neutrons from heavy ion induced reactions in thick targets

Angular distribution of neutron emission from different heavy ion projectiles of energy up to 10A MeV incident on various thick targets have been analyzed with the help of existing models and empirical relations. Owing to the complexity of heavy ion induced reactions, it becomes difficult to obtain any empirical relation for neutron angular distribution involving parameters like projectile energy as well as target and projectile masses. An exponential function of the emission angle has been found to satisfy the relation approximately involving these parameters. The calculated results using our proposed exponential relation are compared with experimental data showing reasonably good agreement. This empirical expression provides an easy, quick and fairly reliable tool to calculate angular distributions of emitted neutrons from heavy ion induced reactions in thick targets, which are required for various applications.