Measurement of the 17O\(p,α\)14N Cross Section at Stellar Energies

The cross section for the astrophysically important ¹⁷O\(p,α\)¹⁴N reaction was measured at proton energies of 75 and 65 keV. Thick, high-purity Ta₂O₅ targets (77% enriched ¹⁷O) and large-area detectors were used with beam currents of 0.45 mA. Backgrounds were measured using Ta₂O₅ targets of natural isotopic composition. The expected resonance at E_p = 70 keV was observed in the data taken at 75 keV, and its proton width was found to be 22+/-3_stat+/-2_target ⁺²_-1beam neV.