Search for coulomb fission induced by 84Kr ions on 238U

We have searched for Coulomb fission induced by ⁸⁴Kr ions on a ²³⁸U target at energies ranging from the interaction barrier down to 37 MeV below (408–458 MeV lab). No event attributed to Coulomb fission was detected; it was deduced that the cross section for this reaction is lower than 0.3 mb/sr near the interaction barrier. This value was compared to theoretical predictions. However, fission events originating from transfer reactions at the interaction barrier have been detected.     

Energy loss and nucleon exchange in the reaction of 86Kr with 166Er

Projectile-like products from the reaction ⁸⁶Kr on ¹⁶⁶Er at 8.18 MeV/amu have been measured using a large-area position-sensitive ionization chamber. The observed element distributions for a given energy loss are found to be asymmetric. An analysis of the data in terms of the residual kinetic energy above the Coulomb barrier, however, yields symmetric and Gaussian-shaped element distributions. At large energy losses, the centroids of these Gaussian distributions exhibit a drift towards symmetric mass splits. The correlation between the variance of the element distribution σ_z² and the number of exchanged nucleons N_ex is discussed. The exchange mechanism, as described by a simple one-body dissipation model, can account for a large portion of the measured energy loss.     

The energy dependence of fusion in the 9Be+28Si system

The angular distributions of the energy spectra of the light charged particles (p, d and α) from the ⁹Be + ²⁸Si reaction have been measured in the energy range 12 ≦ E_lab ≦ 30 MeV. The particle evaporation spectra and the angular distributions were analyzed with a spin dependent statistical model. Angular distributions of ⁹Be ions elastically scattered on ²⁸Si have been measured at the energies 12 MeV, 17 MeV, 23 MeV and 30 MeV and were analysed, together with previously measured cross sections, with the optical model. The fusion cut-off angular momentum l_fus(E), the fusion cross section σ_fus(E) and the ratio σ_fus/σ_R^OM(E) were deduced. The excitation function for fusion was analyzed with the Glas and Mosel model. The parameters obtained from the fusion excitation function were compared with the corresponding ones from the ⁹Be + ²⁸Si optical-model interaction potential.     

Search for E2 strength in electrofission of 238U and 232Th

We have measured the cross-section ratio σ^?/σ⁺ for the electron and positron induced fission of uranium and thorium in the energy range 10–40 MeV with detectors at 90° and in a 2π geometry. The observed periodic structure is discussed with respect to E2 admixtures and an anisotropy of the angular distribution, after the onset of each higher chance fission threshold, as well as with respect to the shape of the photofission cross section.     

A study of the elastic scattering of polarized deuterons from 60Ni and 90Zr nuclei

Five quantities, σ₀, iT₁₁, T₂₀, T₂₁ and T₂₂, have been measured for the elastic ($\text{d}$, d) scattering from ⁶⁰Ni at 9 and 12 MeV and from ⁹⁰Zr at 10, 11 and 12 MeV over a wide angular range. Excitation functions for σ₀ and T₂₀ have been also measured at an angle of 175°(lab) in the approximate energy range of 6–13 MeV for both target isotopes. The experimental results, together with similar data published earlier for 15 MeV have now been analysed using the optical model with the complex central, spin-orbit and tensor T_R potentials. Excellent fits are obtained for the angular distributions for all five measured quantities. The main features of the excitation functions are also well reproduced. Five of the optical-model parameters can be fixed. Three other parameters can be constrained by simple mass dependence functions. Further evidence for the presence of an imaginary component of the spin-orbit potential is supplied by the analysis of the present data.     

Angular momentum transfer in 12C-, 20Ne- and 40Ar-induced fission

Angular momentum transfer in a variety of ¹²C-, ²⁰Ne- and ⁴⁰Ar-induced fission reactions has been investigated using γ-ray multiplicity techniques. Fission fragments were detected in coincidence using a pair of solid-state detectors. The fragment masses were deduced from the kinetic energies and emission angles using two-body kinematics. The γ-ray multiplicities (M_γ) of the fission fragments were measured utilizing an array of eight NaI detectors. For most of the systems studied, M_γ is nearly independent of the exit-channel mass asymmetry. The strongest dependence on mass is observed in the systems ¹⁵⁴sm + 240 MeV ⁴⁰Ar, where a minimum exists at symmetry, and ¹⁹⁷Au + 164 MeV ²⁰Ne, where nuclear structure effects are suggested by the data. For all the reactions the quantity M_γ tends to decrease gradually with increasing fragment kinetic energy. The magnitude of M_γ generally appears to be larger than expected on the basis of rigid rotation, suggesting a spin enhancement effect. The data are compared with a simple model which assumes the statistical excitation of a variety of angular momentum bearing collective modes. Reasonable agreement is obtained with the experimental results. The roles of other collective effects, such as shape fluctuations and angular momentum fractionation, are also considered.     

Fission of 232Th, 238U and 235U induced by negative muons

The absolute yields of prompt and delayed fission induced by negative muons in ²³²Th, ²³⁸U and ²³⁵U have been measured. The delayed fission yields are much lower than could be predicted from Γ_n/Γ_f systematics for 15–20 MeV nuclear excitation. The systematics of prompt fission yields are compared with recently obtained photofission data. It is suggested that prompt fission can be used for investigating the channel structure of the fission barrier.     

Symmetric and asymmetric fission in electron induced fission of 232Th

We have measured fragment kinetic energies in electron induced fission of ²³²Th for electron energies in the range 7 MeV ≦ E_e ≦ 66 MeV. The relative contribution of the distribution peak associated with high fragment kinetic energies decreases continuously with electron energy. This is interpreted as a relative increase of the symmetric fission yield as compared to the asymmetric fission yield; this fact in turn indicates a non-negligible increase in the average excitation of the fissioning nucleus, with the energy of the bombarding electrons, even above the giant dipole resonance.     

Fission-fragment energy correlation measurements for the spontaneous fission of 244Cm

Fission-fragment mass and kinetic energy distributions and their correlations have been measured for the spontaneous fission of ²⁴⁴Cm. About 3.54 × 10⁵ fission events were collected. The global mass distribution shows shoulders at μ_H ≈ 134 and μ_H ≈ 143?144. The peak/valley ratio is 86. The dip ΔE_K value at symmetry is 13.4 ± 1.5 MeV. In the yields for high-kinetic-energy selected events, the masses 139 and 144 dominate. The results of ²⁴⁴Cm are compared with the other isotopes of Cm and discussed in terms of the structures present in the potential energy surface of the fissioning system caused by the structures in the nascent fragments.     

Fragment mass and kinetic energy distribution in isomeric fission of 240Pu

Fragment mass and kinetic energy distributions have been measured for isomeric fission of ²⁴⁰Pu. The mass distribution is asymmetric with the average heavy fragment mass nearly equal to that found for ground state spontaneous fission of ²⁴⁰Pu, but slightly lower than for n_th + ²³⁹Pu-fission. The average total fragment kinetic energy appears to be higher in isomeric fission (179.5_?0.7^+1.5 MeV) than in spontaneous fission from the ground state (176.8 ± 1.8 MeV).     

Prompt γ-rays emitted in the thermal-neutron induced fission of 233U and 239Pu

The average number and average energy of γ-rays emitted within ≈ 5 nsec after fission have been determined as functions of fragment mass and as functions of total kinetic energy. They were obtained from a four-parameter experiment that recorded, event-by-event, correlated of γ-rays and of fission-fragment pairs and the time, relative to fission, at which a γ-ray was detected. For ²³³U(n_th, f) the average total number and energy emitted per fission were found to be 6.31 ± 0.3 and 6.69 ± 0.3 MeV, respectively, giving an average photon energy of 1.06 ± 0.07 MeV. The results for ²³⁹Pu(n_th, f) given in the same order, are 6.88 ± 0.35,6.73 ± 0.35 MeV, and 0.98 ± 0.07 MeV.     

Heavy ion induced transfer reactions on 148Nd

Transfer reactions induced by ¹⁶O and ¹⁸O beams on ¹⁴⁸Nd were measured with a time-of-flight setup at 72 MeV incident energy. The angular distributions are bell shapes having their maxima at angles somewhat below the grazing angle. The excitation in the final nuclei takes place (if possible) near the optimum Q-value and is spread over 5 MeV for the one-particle transfer reactions and up to 10 MeV for the multiparticle transfers. The cross sections for the individual channels are explained mostly by Q-window considerations. In spite of the differences in the individual channels the total transfer cross section integrated over excitation energy, angle, and all channels turns out to be the same same for both ¹⁶O and ¹⁸O beams. This cross section amounts to 20 % of the total reaction cross section and nicely fills the gap between the measured fusion cross section and the total reaction cross section obtained from optical model calculations based on elastic scattering data.     

Fission fragment energy correlation measurements for 229Th(nth,f)

Fission-fragment mass and kinetic energy distributions and their correlations have been measured for ²²⁹Th. The results are compared with those for the neighbouring nuclei. The ²²⁹Th yield data show a peak for the symmetric fission. The mass yield peak/valley ratio is 531 ± 49. The 〈E_K〉(μ_H ≈ 115?22) is flat and the dip ΔE_K at symmetry is 18.0 ± 1.1 MeV. In the yields for high kinetic energy selected events, the mass 144 dominates. A complete systematic for the μ_H≈ 144 structure as a function of the fissioning nuclei is presented and discussed.     

Energy dependence of the optical model parameters for 3He ions scattered from 40Ca and 58Ni

The differential cross sections for the elastic scattering of ³He ions on targets of ⁴⁰Ca and ⁵⁸Ni have been measured at incident energies of 27.7, 51.4, 73.2 and 83.5 MeV. The results of optical model analyses showed that only one unique potential (J_R ≈ 330 MeV · fm³) with a surface absorptive term can provide acceptable fits to the large angle elastic scattering cross sections at 83.5 MeV. The particular geometrical set found at 83.5 MeV could not, however, give an adequate fit to the data with energy less than 40 MeV. Subsequent analyses indicated that a break in the energy dependence of the real potential is observed for the low energy data. Explicit energy dependent terms were obtained by fitting all the data simultaneously. These phenomenological potentials were also compared with the folded nucleon-nucleus potential. The influence of the α-particle channels on the elastic scattering of ³He ions at 83.5 MeV was also examined.     

Fission of medium mass elements induced by 126 MeV 14N ions

Ni, Se, Mo, Ag, Ho and Au targets were bombarded by 126 MeV ¹⁴N ions in order to study compound nucleus fission. The large angular momentum brought in by the projectile implies much greater fission probabilities than those obtained when the same compound nuclei are created with light projectiles. We employed two surface-barrier detectors. The results obtained are fission cross sections, angular correlations and kinetic energy and mass distributions. Fissilities are found to decrease exponentially with the ratio Z²/A of the fissioning nucleus until Z²/A = 19 (molybdenum) and then to increase again for lower Z²/A. The calculations of fissilities performed with the fission barrier of Myers and Swiatecki, and including angular momentum effects in evaporation-fission competition, gives the same variation of fissilities as the experimental one, but the results obtained are lower than the experimental values. The total kinetic energies measured are higher than the predictions of the liquid drop model by around 10 MeV (Nix). The shapes of the mass distributions indicate that the value of x_BG (Businaro-Gallone point) is lower than 0.4 (silver).     

Multiparameter study of 1H, 3H and 4He in fast neutron induced fission of 235U

The emission probabilities per fission of α-particles, tritons and protons have been measured in fast neutron induced fission of ²³⁵U. The measurements were carried out at neutron energies of 120, 180, 230 and 550 keV. AΔE-E semiconductor detector telescope was used to identify different light charged particles and the fission fragments were detected with an ionization chamber. The three-parameter data corresponding to the pulse heights from the ΔE-E detectors and the ion-chamber were recorded event by event on magnetic tape and were analyzed off-line by computer. No significant variation in the most probable energy ($\text{E}$) and the standard deviation (σ_E) of the energy spectra of different light charged particles with incident neutron energy was observed, although $\text{E}{}_{\mathrm{\alpha }}$ was seen to have a slightly higher value beyond E_n = 230 keV. The yield of α-particles in fission induced by neutrons of E_n ～ 200 keV was found to be higher by about 20 % than that in thermal neutron induced fission. The yields of tritons and protons were found to increase significantly with neutron energy.     

Electron scattering studies of magnetic isovector transitions in 12C at high momentum transfer

The inelastic electron scattering cross sections for the M1 transition to the 15.11 MeV (1⁺, T = 1) level and for the M2 transition to the 16.58 MeV (2^?, T = 1) level in ¹²C have been measured in the momentum transfer region q = 0.4–3.0 fm^?1, with emphasis on precise data at high momentum transfers. Additionally, a broad state near 15.4 MeV excitation has been observed and its excitation energy and natural width have been established as 15.44 ± 0.04 MeV and 1.5 ± 0.2 MeV, respectively. The Fourier-Bessel technique for determining the Mλ transition current density has been applied to the M1 and M2 transitions. Particular attention has been paid to the Coulomb corrections required to deduce the PWBA form factors. The M1 radiative width is Γ_γ0 = 38.5 ± 0.8 eV.     

The elastic scattering of polarized 3He by 3He and excitation in the 6Be system

Angular distributions of the polarization in the elastic scattering of ³He by ³He have been measured at eight energies between 18 and 33 MeV, corresponding to excitation of ⁶Be between 20.5 and 28 MeV. The measurements were made using the 33 MeV polarised ³He beam at the University of Birmingham Radial Ridge cyclotron and a small gas target. The data have been analysed in terms of real and complex phase shifts. The deduced phase shift energy dependence cannot be associated with a single isolated level in ⁶Be, however an application of the two-level R-matrix formula reveals some broad L = 3 structures around E_x = 25 MeV.     

Levels of 28Si from the 24Mg(α, α)24Mg and 24Mg(α, γ)28Si reactions

Excitation functions have been measured at six angles for ²⁴Mg(α, α)²⁴Mg up to E_α 4.94 MeV. Multi-level R-matrix analysis was performed for nineteen resonances. More than ha of the determined spin-parities and other resonance parameters are new values. The ²⁴Mg(α, γ)²⁸Si studies of Maas et al. were extended up to E_α = 5.13 MeV. Resonance strengths and branchin ratios were determined. The γ-ray angular distribution measurement at E_α = 3.79 MeV gives J^π = 2⁺ value for the resonance. A comparison of the results obtained in different reaction channel is given and the possibility of clusterisation in some excited states of ²⁸Si is discussed.     

Evidence for inelastic processes in the 24Mg(13C, 12C)25Mg reaction at elab = 30 MeV

The ²⁴Mg(¹³C, ¹²C)²⁵Mg reaction has been studied at 30 MeV using a magnetic spectrometer. Differential cross sections for transitions to several final states in ²⁵Mg have been measured and analysed using an exact finite range DWBA code. The DWBA predictions have fitted the bell-shaped distributions satisfactorily, yielding spectroscopic factors which are in reasonable agreement with those obtained using (d, p) reactions. The exceptions are the $\text{3}\text{2}$⁺ state at 0.97 MeV which displays a marked departure from the bell-shaped angular distribution obtained for the other $\text{3}\text{2}$⁺ state at 2.80 MeV, and the $\text{7}\text{2}$⁺ state at 1.61 MeV whose angular distribution has an unusual shape, displaying a deep minimum located at the grazing angle. A semiquantitative model has been used to suggest that the angular distribution for the 0.97 MeV state is evidence for the coupling of inelastic processes in this transition. In the case of the 1.61 MeV state it is suggested that the angular distribution shows the influence of indirect Coulomb excitation on the transfer cross sections.