The (7Li, 8Li) reaction to the (h92)?1 state in 207Pb

Relative differential cross sections for the reaction ²⁰⁸ P(⁷Li, ⁸Li) leading to the predominantly single-hole states in ²⁰⁷Pb have been analysed using the DWBA to determine the rms radius of the 1h_{$\text{9}\text{2}$} neutron orbital in ²⁰⁸Pb by comparison with known sizes of the 3p_{$\text{1}\text{2}$} and 2f_{$\text{7}\text{2}$} orbits. The experiment was performed at a beam energy of 52 MeV. The insensitivity of the technique to unknown input parameters to the DWBA analysis is demonstrated and a value of 5.94±0.11 fm for the rms radius of the 1h_{$\text{9}\text{2}$} orbit obtained assuming 70% of the hole strength is concentrated on the $\text{9}\text{2}{}^{\mathrm{?}}$, 3.41 MeV state in ²⁰⁷Pb. Effects due to fragmentation of the different hole strengths are examined and a value of 6.00 ± 0.11 fm is extracted as the best value for the rms radius of the neutron excess in ²⁰⁸Pb. The relevance of these data to mean-field calculations of nuclei is discussed.