Significance of neutron TOF spectrometers in fusion-fission reaction studies

The variety of possible reaction channels open up in nucleus-nucleus collision near Coulomb barrier region is so fascinating that many times it becomes difficult to disentangle causes and effects of the processes involved. A complete picture of the reaction process can only be obtained by making use of as many observables as possible. Since neutrons are emitted predominantly in these reactions, detection of neutrons has an upper hand as probe in the study of reaction mechanism. In addition to the conventional usage of neutron as a 'clock' and 'thermometer', the advancement in the experimental technology has opened up many other means to study reaction dynamics. For example along with other probes, neutron measurement helps to disentangle quasi-fission from fusion-fission which is a topic of current interest from the super heavy element synthesis point of view. The 100 detector neutron array (National Array of Neutron Detectors) at IUAC is a versatile tool which is being used to study nuclear reaction dynamics near Coulomb barrier region using the beams delivered from Pelletron coupled to booster Linac accelerator facility at IUAC. I will discuss about the importance of neutron detection and the significance of NAND in the present day context. Some of the results from the recent measurements will also be discussed. (author)