Fusion excitation functions have been measured for ${}^{16}\mathrm{O}+{}^{61}\mathrm{Ni}$ and ${}^{18}\mathrm{O}+{}^{61,62}\mathrm{Ni}$ systems around the Coulomb barrier ($\approx 0.7V_B$–$1.3V_B$) using the recoil mass spectrometer, heavy ion reaction analyzer. The ground state $Q$ value for two neutron stripping is positive for both systems with ${}^{18}\mathrm{O}$ as the projectile. Strong enhancement of the experimental fusion cross sections were observed below the barrier for all the systems compared to that of the predictions of the one-dimensional barrier penetration model. To understand such enhancement, a coupled-channels formalism has been used. A comparative study of these systems indicated that the coupling of two neutron transfer channels with the collective excitations could play the role behind the sub-barrier fusion enhancement for ${}^{18}\mathrm{O}$ induced reactions. However, the sub-barrier enhancement for ${}^{16}\mathrm{O} + {}^{61}\mathrm{Ni}$ is found to be due to the coupling of quadrupole vibrations of both the interacting nuclei. Also after comparing these systems with other systems of different Ni isotopes, we have found that the signature of the role of coupling to neutron transfer channels due to ground state positive $Q$ value for neutron transfer is ambiguous.

• Received 8 December 2021
• Accepted 28 April 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.105.054608