Entrance Channel Dependent Light Charged Particle Emission from the ¹⁵⁶Er Compound Nucleus

Light charged particle decay from the ¹⁵⁶Er compound nucleus, populated by ¹²C +¹⁴⁴Sm and ?M⁶⁰Ni +⁹⁶Zr at the same excitation energy, were measured in coincidence with the evaporation residues. The high energy slope of charged particle spectra for the ⁶⁰Ni-induced reaction is steeper than for the ¹²C-induced reaction. Model calculations including particle evaporation during fusion result in good agreement with the data. This suggests that the difference in the charged particle spectra between the two entrance channels is due to a longer formation time in the ⁶⁰Ni-induced reaction.