Study of fusion for the 8Li + 208Pb system

The excitation function for complete fusion of the radioactive projectile 8Li with a 208Pb target has been measured at energies near but above the Coulomb barrier, via the 4n and 5n evaporation channels. Comparing with the predictions of a simple evaporation calculation using the code PACE2, the high energy behaviour of the data can be qualitatively understood if a contribution of fusion with a 7Li cluster is included, consistent with breakup prior to fusion. A fusion suppression factor of 0.7310.03 is deduced and possible incomplete fusion processes are discussed. (Author)