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Superheavy elements are formed in fusion reactions which are hindered by fast nonequilibrium processes. To quantify these, mass-angle distributions and cross sections have been measured, at beam energies from below-barrier to 25% above, for the reactions of 48Ca,50Ti, and 54Cr with 208 Pb. Moving from 48Ca to 54Cr leads to a drastic fall in the symmetric fission yield, which is reflected in the measured mass-angle distribution by the presence of competing fast nonequilibrium deep inelastic and quasifission processes. These are responsible for reduction of the compound nucleus formation probablity PCN (as measured by the symmetric-peaked fission cross section), by a factor of 2.5 for 50Ti and 15 for 54Cr in comparison to 48 Ca. The energy dependence of PCN indicates that cold fusion reactions (involving 208Pb) are not driven by a diffusion process.

Background: Formation of a fully equilibrated compound nucleus is a critical step in the heavy-ion fusion reaction mechanism but can be hindered by orders of magnitude by quasifission, a process in which the dinuclear system breaks apart prior to full equilibration. To provide a complete description of heavy-ion fusion it is important to characterize the quasifission process. In particular, the impact of changing the neutron richness on the quasifission process is not well known. A previous study of Cr + W reactions at a constant 13 % above the Coulomb barrier concluded that an increase in neutron richness leads to a decrease in the prominence of the quasifission reaction channel. Purpose: The dynamics of quasifission for reactions with varying neutron richness was explored at a constant excitation energy, closer to the interaction barrier than the previous work, to see if the correlation between neutron richness and quasifission is valid at lower energies. Methods: Mass distributions were measured at the Australian National University for eight different combinations of Cr + W reactions, using the kinematic coincidence method. To eliminate the effect of differing excitation energies, measurements were made at beam energies chosen to give 52 MeV of excitation energy in all the compound nuclei. Results: A curvature parameter, describing the shape of the mass distributions, was determined for the fission-like fragment mass distributions for each reaction, and compared to various reaction parameters known to influence quasifission. Conclusions: The present work demonstrates that, at energies near the interaction barrier, the beam energy with respect to the barrier is as important as neutron-richness effects in determining the quasifission characteristics in these Cr + W reactions involving statically deformed target nuclei, and both are important considerations for future heavy and superheavy element production reactions.

We have measured the capture-fission excitation functions for the reaction of stable 39K and radioactive 46K with 181Ta using the ReA3 facility at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory.

Background: Quasifission (QF) has gained tremendous importance in heavy-ion nuclear physics research because of its strong influence on superheavy-element synthesis. Collisions involving closed-shell nuclei in the entrance channel are found to affect the QF reaction mechanism. Hence, it is important to improve the understanding of their effect on QF. Apart from that, some recent studies show that the difference in N/Z of reaction partners influences the reaction dynamics. Since heavier doubly magic nuclei have different N/Z than lighter doubly magic nuclei, it is important to understand the effect of N/Z mismatch as well as the effect of shell closures.

Background: Fusion of heavy nuclei requires energy dissipation to trap the system inside the capture barrier. At high angular momentum, the centrifugal potential causes the barrier radius to reduce, which may lead to energy dissipation outside the barrier, affecting the fusion angular momentum distributions and thus the capture cross sections. Purpose: To investigate the sensitivity of fusion-fission cross sections as a probe of fusion dynamics at high angular momentum. Method: Fission of the compound nucleus Yb164 formed by three different fusion reactions, namely, O16+Sm148, Si28+Ba136, and Ca40+Sn124, was measured at four beam energies well above their respective capture barriers. Fission cross sections were extracted from the measured fission fragment angular distributions and compared with model calculations of fusion and subsequent fission. Fusion and evaporation residue cross sections available in the literature for the same or similar reactions were used to guide model calculations and obtain the fusion angular momentum distributions. Results: The measured fission characteristics were found to be consistent with fusion-fission, as expected, justifying the use of the statistical model to calculate fission cross sections for each reaction. Significantly different fission cross-section predictions were obtained from calculations using angular momentum distributions corresponding to different coupling schemes and different diffuseness parameter of the nuclear potential. A large diffuseness parameter (0.65 fm) of the nuclear potential was observed to give the best reproduction of both the experimental fusion as well as fission cross sections. Conclusions: Experimental fission cross sections provide a stringent constraint to the fusion model calculations and thus prove to be a sensitive probe for understanding fusion dynamics at high angular momentum. This is shown in the present work by a simultaneous analysis of the fusion and fission cross sections for systems

A quantitative understanding of fusion dynamics at high angular momentum is attempted employing experimental fission cross sections as a probe and carrying out a simultaneous description of the fusion and fission cross sections at above barrier energies. For this, experimental fission fragment angular distributions for three systems: 16O+148Sm, 28Si+136Ba and 40Ca+124Sn, all forming the same compound nucleus 164Yb at similar excitation energies, have been measured at four beam energies above their respective capture barriers. A simultaneous description of the angle integrated fission cross sections and evaporation residue/fusion cross sections available in literature for the systems is carried out using coupled-channels and statistical model calculations. Fission cross sections, which are most sensitive to the changes in angular momentum, provide very stringent constraints for model calculations thus indicating the need of precision evaporation residue as well as fission cross sections in such studies. A large diffuseness (ao>0.65 fm) of the nuclear potential gives the best reproduction of the experimental data. In addition, different coupling schemes give very different angular momentum distributions, which, in turn, give very different fission cross section predictions. Both these observations hint at the explanation that depending on energy dissipation of the interacting nuclei occurring inside or outside the fusion pocket, very different fission cross sections can result due to heavily altered angular momentum and thus justifies the sensitivity of fission cross sections used as probes in the present work.

The effects of unusual structures of nuclei, such as neutron halos, on nuclear reaction mechanisms are not well understood, particularly at near barrier energies. Using the SOLEROO Radioactive Ion Beam facility at the Australian National University, below-barrier reactions with 8Li incident on 209Bi have been performed. Beam purities of about 95% are achieved by rejecting unwanted beam species using a solenoidal separator along with tracking and tagging the secondary beam with two parallel plate avalanche counters (PPACs) placed immediately after the solenoid. However, the radioactive ion beam exiting the solenoid is not parallel to the primary beam axis. To obtain a precise angular distribution of elastic scattering, the tracking facility is used to deduce the true scattering angle on an event-by-event basis. The elastic cross-section for 8Li on 209Bi is then extracted, verifying the capability of the facility to perform precise cross-section measurements.

Superheavy elements are created through the fusion of two heavy nuclei. The large Coulomb energy that makes superheavy elements unstable also makes fusion forming a compact compound nucleus very unlikely. Instead, after sticking together for a short time, the two nuclei usually come apart, in a process called quasifission. Mass-angle distributions give the most direct information on the characteristics and time scales of quasifission. A systematic study of carefully chosen mass-angle distributions has provided information on the global trends of quasifission. Large deviations from these systematics at beam energies near the capture barrier reveal the major role played by the nuclear structure of the two colliding nuclei in determining the reaction outcome, and thus implicitly in hindering or favouring superheavy element synthesis.

Background: All elements above atomic number 113 have been synthesized using hot fusion reactions with calcium beams on statically deformed actinide target nuclei. Quasifission and fusion-fission are the two major mechanisms responsible for the very low production cross sections of superheavy elements. Purpose: To achieve a quantitative measurement of capture and quasifission characteristics as a function of beam energy in reactions forming heavy compound systems using calcium beams as projectiles. Methods: Fission fragment mass-angle distributions were measured for the two reactions 40Ca+186W and 40C+192Os, populating 226Pu and 232Cm compound nuclei, respectively, using the Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility and CUBE spectrometer at the Australian National University. Mass ratio distributions, angular distributions, and total fission cross sections were obtained from the experimental data. Simulations to match the features of the experimental mass-angle distributions were performed using a classical phenomenological approach. Results: Both 40Ca+186W and 40C+192Os reactions show strong mass-angle correlations at all energies measured. A maximum fusion probability of 60−70% is estimated for the two reactions in the energy range of the present study. Coupled-channels calculations assuming standard Woods-Saxon potential parameters overpredict the capture cross sections. Large nuclear potential diffuseness parameters ∼1.5 fm are required to fit the total capture cross sections. The presence of a weak mass-asymmetric quasifission component attributed to the higher angular momentum events can be reproduced with a shorter average sticking time but longer mass-equilibration time constant. Conclusions: The deduced above-barrier capture cross sections suggest that the dissipative processes are already occurring outside the capture barrier. The mass-angle correlations indicate that a compact shape is not achieved for deformation aligned collisions with lower capture barriers. The

The atomic numbers and the masses of fragments formed in quasifission reactions are simultaneously measured at scission in Ti48+U238 reactions at a laboratory energy of 286 MeV. The atomic numbers are determined from measured characteristic fluorescence x rays, whereas the masses are obtained from the emission angles and times of flight of the two emerging fragments. For the first time, thanks to this full identification of the quasifission fragments on a broad angular range, the important role of the proton shell closure at Z=82 is evidenced by the associated maximum production yield, a maximum predicted by time-dependent Hartree-Fock calculations. This new experimental approach gives now access to precise studies of the time dependence of the N/Z (neutron over proton ratios of the fragments) evolution in quasifission reactions.

Quasifission is an important process suppressing the fusion of two heavy nuclei in reactions used to create superheavy elements. Quasifission results in rapid separation of the dinuclear system initially formed at contact. Achieving reliable a priori prediction of quasifission probabilities is a very difficult problem. Through measurements with projectiles from C to Ni, the Australian National University's Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility and CUBE spectrometer have been used to map out mass-angle distributions (MAD) - the fission mass-ratio as a function of centre-of-mass angle. These provide information on quasifission dynamics in the least modeldependent way. Average quasifission time-scales have been extracted, and compared with TDHF calculations of the collisions, with good agreement being found. With the baseline information from the survey of experimental MAD, strong influences of the nuclear structure of the projectile and target nuclei can be clearly determined

Deep inelastic collisions (DICs) can compete strongly with fusion in collisions of heavy nuclei. However, standard coupled-channels calculations do not take DIC processes into account. As a result, calculations have been shown to overestimate the fusion cross-sections, resulting in a discrepancy between experimental data and theoretical calculations, particularly at energies above the fusion barrier. To investigate this discrepancy, we conducted a series of experiments using the ANU 14UD tandem accelerator and the CUBE 2-body fission spectrometer to examine the competition between transfer/DIC and fusion. In particular, fusion-fission and 3-body fission yields have been extracted for 34S + 232Th and 40Ca + 232Th systems. This work shows that the transfer-fission probability is enhanced relative to fusion-fission for 40Ca + 232Th, when compared to 34S+ 232Th. It is suggested that the enhancement of this DIC process in 40Ca + 232Th is linked to an increase in the density overlap of the colliding nuclei as a function of the charge product and contributes to fusion hindrance.