Measurement and analysis of excitation functions and observation of mass-asymmetry effect on incomplete fusion dynamics

Excitation functions for sixteen evaporation residues produced in the interaction of 20Ne with 165Ho have been measured in the projectile energy range ≈88-164 MeV, using catcher foil activation technique followed by gamma-ray spectrometry. It has been found in general that the excitation functions of evaporation residues produced via xn/pxn channels satisfactorily reproduced with the statistical model code PACE-2 after subtraction of precursor decay contribution. The significant enhancement in the measured excitation functions for the residues produced in alpha emission channels over the PACE-2 predictions has been observed. These alpha emission channels are attributed to incomplete fusion reaction process. The results indicate the occurrence of incomplete fusion involving break-up of projectile 20Ne into 4He + 16O and /or 8Be + 12C followed by fusion of one of the fragments with target nucleus 165Ho. The analysis of the present data suggest that probability of incomplete fusion increases with projectile energy. The ICF fraction FICF also increases with increasing mass-asymmetry of the entrance channel