Dissipative collisions in 16O +27Al at Elab=116 MeV

The inclusive energy distributions of fragments (3≤Z≤7) emitted in the reaction 16O+27Al at Elab=116 MeV have been measured in the angular range θlab=15 deg. -115 deg. . A nonlinear optimization procedure using multiple Gaussian distribution functions has been proposed to extract the fusion-fission and deep-inelastic components of the fragment emission from the experimental data. The angular distributions of the fragments, thus obtained, from the deep-inelastic component are found to fall off faster than those from the fusion-fission component, indicating shorter lifetimes of the emitting dinuclear systems. The lifetimes of the intermediate dinuclear configurations have been estimated using a diffractive Regge-pole model. The lifetimes thus extracted [∼(1-5)x10-22 sec] are found to decrease with the increase in the fragment charge. Optimum Q values are also found to increase with increasing charge transfer, i.e., with the decrease in fragment charge