Exploratory studies towards fusion with the 16⁺ isomer of ¹⁷⁸Hf

In fusion with heavy, statically deformed nuclei, coupling from the ground state up the rotational band has been shown to result in fusion cross sections equivalent to those calculated treating the effect of deformation semiclassically, Fusion with the 16⁺ isomer of ¹⁷⁸Hf might be expected to behave quite differently, due to the high spin and excitation energy of the initial state. It is concluded that such a measurement might most favorably be carried out with an ¹⁶⁰O projectile. To determine the energy and angular range for possible future measurements on an isomeric target, measurements have been made for the reaction ¹⁶⁰O+¹⁷⁸Hf (g.s.) of evaporation residue angular distributions, and of fusion cross sections from 0.1 to 700 mb.