Fusion incompleteness in 14N + 169Tm system: Measurement of recoil range distributions

Abstract

To understand the incomplete fusion reaction dynamics and its dependency on various entrance channel parameters, an experiment using the forward recoil range technique was performed for the ¹⁴N + ¹⁶⁹Tm system at projectile energy ≈ 83 MeV. The recoil-catcher activation technique followed by off-line γ-spectrometry was employed. Experimentally measured forward recoil range distributions of evaporation residues indicates the occurence of incomplete fusion channels in addition to complete fusion. Full and partial linear momentum transfer components have been observed. The experimentally measured ranges of the evaporation residues formed due to the transfer of complete and/or partial momentum by projectile in the thin Al catchers were compared with the SRIM code. The observed incomplete fusion events can be explained on the basis of the breakup of the projectile viz. ¹⁴N → ⁸Be and/or ⁴He, where ⁸Be and/or ⁴He fuses with ¹⁶⁹Tm target and transfers the partial linear momentum to the target nucleus. The present data clearly indicates that the evaporation residues were not only populated through complete fusion, but incomplete fusion also plays an important role at low projectile energy.