Experimental study of excitation functions and isomer ratios for 211, 212Po

Excitation functions have been measured for ground states and isomers populated in the ²⁰⁸Pb(α, n)²¹¹Po, ²⁰⁹Bi(α, np)²¹¹Po, ²⁰⁹Bi(α, p)²¹²Po and ²⁰⁹Bi(α, n)²¹²At reactions for α-beams ranging from 45 MeV to 172.5 MeV. The experimental results have been compared with theoretical calculations assuming direct and preequilibrium reaction mechanisms, respectively. It is found that the experimental excitation functions can be reproduced satisfactorily by calculations in the framework of the preequilibrium model. Isomer ratios have been extracted from the data as well. Their energy dependence can be reproduced by an optical-model calculation for beam energies larger than about 60 MeV.