Probing fission time scales with neutrons and GDR gamma rays

The time scales for nuclear fission have been explored using both pre- and postfission neutrons and GDR gamma rays. Four systems were investigated: 133-MeV /sup 16/O+/sup 176/Yb and /sup 208/Pb and 104-MeV /sup 4/He+/sup 188/Os and /sup 209/Bi. Fission fragments were measured in coincidence with PPACs. The neutrons were detected using eight detectors from the DEMON array, while gamma rays were measured using the US BaF/sub 2/ array. The pre- and postfission gamma rays were determined using moving source fits parallel and perpendicular to the fission fragment emission directions. The time scales for fission for the neutrons were determined using the neutron clock technique. The gamma-ray data were fitted using a statistical model calculation based on the code CASCADE. The results of the fits from both data types were used to extract nuclear friction coefficients, gamma , and fission time scales. The gamma values ranged from 7 to 20, while the fission times were (31-105)*10/sup -21/s.