Li induced reactions

The experimental results obtained from Li induced transfer reactions at energies much higher than the Coulomb barrier have been reviewed to find out to which extent these reactions can be considered today as spectroscopic tool. Tables containing information and references on transfer and Li elastic scattering experiments published before April 1971 are given. Because of the complexity of the reaction mechanism, an energy resolution better than the intrinsic width of the separation of the levels appears as an essential, but not necessarily sufficient condition, to extract unambiguous spectroscopic information. This condition being satisfied, important results have been obtained from two, three and four nucleon transfer reactions. A short account of the efforts undertaken so far to elucidate the reaction mechanism using different simplified models is given. The reaction cross sections decrease so rapidly when A increases that experiments beyond a ∼ 40 seem for the moment hardly possible. However this survey indicates that for lighter nuclei the field of investigation open up by the use of Li projectiles remains still largely unexplored. (author)