Heavy-ion induced fission at near-barrier energies

The study of heavy-ion induced fission fragment angular distributions continues to be a source of rich information as regards fission process in general and fission dynamics in particular. Considerable progress has been made towards understanding many features of the fission phenomenon. While some of the new sets of data measured in the last few years have confirmed the theoretical expectations, the others have provided surprises not quite anticipated. In the present review article the emphasis will be mainly on the recent experimental results of heavy-ion-induced fission fragment angular distributions at energies near the fusion barrier, their implications and new puzzles in this area which require not only suitable explanation but also additional measurements. (orig.)