Fission barriers for Po nuclei produced in complete fusion reactions with heavy ions

Evaporation residues and fission excitation functions obtained in complete fusion reactions leading to Po compound nuclei have been analyzed in the framework of the standard statistical model. Macroscopic fission barriers deduced from the cross-section data analysis are compared with the predictions of various theoretical models and available data. A drop in the Po barriers with the decrease in a neutron number was found, which is stronger than predicted by any theory. The presence of entrance channel effects and collective excitations in the compound nucleus decay is considered as a possible reason for the barrier reduction.