Nuclear temperature measurements with helium isotopes

Temperatures extracted with the family of (He-3, He-4) isotope ratio thermometers, T-He, have been studied and cross-checked with temperatures, T(He-4*) constructed from excited and ground state populations of He-4. Empirical correction factors provide baseline corrections for sequential decay effects for T-He < 4.5 MeV, independent of projectile, target and incident energies. After corrections for fluctuations due to sequential decay, statistical calculations predict that T-He, and T(He-4*) should agree. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.