Measurement of the differential cross section for the two-body photodisintegration of He-3 at theta(LAB)=90 degrees using tagged photons in the energy range 14-31 MeV

The two-body photodisintegration of He-3 has been investigated using tagged photons with energies from 14-31 MeV at MAX-lab in Lund, Sweden. The two-body breakup channel was unambiguously identified by the (nonsimultaneous) detection of both protons and deuterons. This approach was made feasible by the overdetermined kinematic situation afforded by the tagged-photon technique. Proton-and deuteron-energy spectra were measured using four silicon surface-barrier detector telescopes located at a laboratory angle of 90 degrees with respect to the incident photon-beam direction. Average statistical and systematic uncertainties of 5.7% and 6.6% in the differential cross section were obtained for 11 photon-energy bins with an average width of 1.2 MeV. The results are compared to previous experimental data measured at comparable photon energies as well as to the results of two recent Faddeev calculations which employ realistic potential models and take into account three-nucleon forces and final-state interactions. Both the accuracy and precision of the present data are improved over those obtained in the previous measurements. The data are in good agreement with most of the previous results, and favor the inclusion of three-nucleon forces in the calculations. (Less)