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Background: Couplings with various reaction channels are known to enhance sub-barrier fusion cross sections by several orders in magnitude. However, a few open questions still remain. For example, the influence of higher order static deformations on sub-barrier fusion cross sections is yet to be comprehensively understood.

A study of low-energy incomplete fusion was done by the measurements of excitation functions of evaporation residues produced in the ${}^{16}\mathrm{O}+{}^{148}\mathrm{Nd}$ system at energies $\approx 4–7$ MeV/nucleon. The stacked foil activation technique using offline $\gamma$-ray spectrometry was employed. Significant enhancements were found in the measured cross sections from the theoretical predictions of pace-4 for the evaporation residues populated through $\alpha$-emission channels. This enhancement is attributed to incomplete fusion (ICF) of ${}^{16}\mathrm{O}$ with ${}^{148}\mathrm{Nd}$. The comparison of present work with literature data shows that the ICF probability increases exponentially with existing entrance channel parameters. The dependence of ICF dynamics on target deformation was investigated using deformation parameter (${\beta }_2^T$), deformation length (${\beta }_2^T{R}^T$) and neutron excess ${(N-Z)}^T$ of the target. The present analysis indicates that the ICF fraction rises exponentially with ${\beta }_2^T$, ${\beta }_2^T{R}^T$, and ${(N-Z)}^T$. These results show that the ICF fraction follows a systematic exponential pattern rather than a simple linear growth with various entrance channel parameters reported in the literature. However, this study also suggests that the ICF dynamics is strongly influenced by the structure of projectile along with that of the target. Further, the role of deformation parameters on incomplete-fusion dynamics was also investigated through the method of universal fusion function. Analysis of the present data indicates that the experimental fusion functions are suppressed with different factors depending on deformation of the target nuclei. These suppressions are removed by including incomplete-fusion cross sections in the fusion function calculations. The average value of experimental fusion functions deviates from the universal fusion function for deformed targets. However, the average value of the total fusion function for deformed targets shifts towards the average value of the universal fusion function. The present study shows that the effect of target deformation plays an important role in affecting the ICF dynamics, along with various entrance channel parameters for different systems.

Excitation functions for the 11 evaporation residues populated through complete and/or incomplete fusion in ${}^{16}\mathrm{O}+{}^{124}\mathrm{Sn}$ system at low projectile energies $\approx 3-7\mathrm{MeV}/\mathrm{nucleon}$ have been measured. Recoil catcher activation technique followed by offline $\gamma$-ray spectrometry has been employed. Some of the evaporation residues are found to have contributions from precursor decays. The precursor contributions have been separated out from the measured cumulative cross-sections of evaporation residues. Independent cross-sections are compared with statistical model code PACE-4 predictions. The evaporation residues produced through $xn$ and pxn channels are found to be well reproduced with the PACE-4 predictions after subtraction of precursor decay contributions. A substantial enhancement in the measured excitation functions over their theoretical predictions for the evaporation residues produced in $\alpha$-emitting channels has been observed, which is attributed to the presence of incomplete fusion of projectile with target at these low energies. The present study shows that the incomplete fusion and the break-up probability of the incident ${}^{16}\mathrm{O}$ into $\alpha$ clusters (i.e., break-up of ${}^{16}\mathrm{O}$ into ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}+\alpha$ and/or ${}^8\mathrm{Be}+{}^8\mathrm{Be}$) increases with projectile energy. The present data suggests that the deformation of target is highlighting the important role to affect the ICF reactions independently with different projectiles. The comparison of the present study with literature data also shows that the ICF probability depends on various entrance channel parameters, namely, projectile energy, entrance channel mass-asymmetry, $\alpha \text{−}Q$ value, Coulomb factor $\left(Z_{\mathrm{P}}{Z}_{\mathrm{T}}\right)$, deformation parameter (${\beta }_2$), and their combinations. Moreover, the combined parameters $Z_{\mathrm{P}}{Z}_{\mathrm{T}}·{\beta }_2$ and ${\mu }_{\mathrm{EC}}^{\mathrm{AS}}·{\beta }_2$ are not found suitable to explain whole ICF characteristics, particularly for spherical and slightly deformed targets. On the other hand, the combined parameter $Z_{\mathrm{P}}{Z}_{\mathrm{T}}·{\mu }_{\mathrm{EC}}^{\mathrm{AS}}$ has been found to explain more precisely the ICF dynamics as compared to other single and combined entrance channel parameters.

The multinucleon transfer reaction or incomplete fusion reaction (ICF) is a powerful tool to study fission of exotic nuclei that cannot be formed by stable heavy-ion fusion reactions. In the present work, mass distributions of fission fragments (FFs) from fissioning nuclei ${}^{241,242,243,244}\mathrm{Pu}$ and ${}^{240,241}\mathrm{Np}$ populated in multinucleon transfer or ICF reactions on ${}^{6,7}\mathrm{Li}+{}^{238}\mathrm{U}$ systems have been studied. Among these, ${}^{244}\mathrm{Pu},{}^{243}\mathrm{Pu}$, and ${}^{241}\mathrm{Np}$ are formed by the capture of unstable nuclei ${}^6\mathrm{He},{}^5\mathrm{He}$, and $t$, respectively, by the target ${}^{238}\mathrm{U}$. Identification of fissioning nuclei and determination of excitation energies have been performed by finding the details of the outgoing projectile-like fragments detected in coincidence with both the fission fragments on an event-by-event basis. The measurements of FF mass distributions and FF folding angle distributions of different ICF channels confirm that these channels are the prime factors for the modifications in the experimental ratio of asymmetric to symmetric fission yields and the width of folding angle distributions for inclusive fission reported earlier on the same reactions. Comparison among the ratio of asymmetric to symmetric fission yields from ${}^{241,242,243,244}\mathrm{Pu}$ and ${}^{240,241}\mathrm{Np}$ nuclei formed in the present reactions, available literature data, and the theoretical calculations using gef code shows that the shell correction for symmetric fission channels plays an important role in describing the experimental mass distribution.