Light particle emission near 0 degree in the reaction 20Ne+181Ta at E/A=85 MeV

Energetic light ions (primarily protons and alphas) were detected in heavy-ions collisions of 20Ne with 181Ta at an energy E/A=85 MeV. Analysis of the spectral shapes and angular distributions using a standard moving-source model requires that the source velocity approaches the beam velocity at zero degrees. Apparent source temperatures are only modestly increased at this energy compared to apparent source temperatures in reactions at energies E/A=9 to 40 MeV, indicating a possible saturation effect in the projectile nucleus. The production of very energetic light ions (where the light-ion energy approaches the total beam energy) was not seen in this experiment, possibly indicating that a previously proposed massive cluster transfer mechanism is invalid, or suppressed at this higher energy