Investigation of α-clustering associated with fusion in ^28,30,32Si + ²⁸Si

To examine the α-clustering in the fusion of mid-mass nuclei, fusion in ^28,30,32Si + ²⁸Si was measured. Beams of stable and radioactive ions with intensities < 1 x 10^5 ions/s bombarded isotopically enriched Si targets at Michigan State University’s ReA3 facility. Evaporation residues (ERs) produced from de-excitation following fusion as well as emitted light-charged particles (LCP: Z ≤ 2) were detected. The ERs were identified using an energy-time-of-flight (ETOF) technique with sub-nanosecond resolution. To detect the LCPs a highly segmented Si-Si-CsI(Tl)/PD telescope array was utilized in a ΔE-E measurement. Cross-sections and energy spectra for both ERs and LCPs were measured at multiple energies. The relative probability of α to proton emission is examined as a function of neutron-richness of the projectile nucleus and compared with statistical model predictions.