Differential Cross Sections for the ReactionLi7(Li7, α)Be10

Absolute differential cross sections are presented for the reaction ${\mathrm{Li}}^7({\mathrm{Li}}^7, \alpha ){\mathrm{Be}}^{10}$, where the ${\mathrm{Be}}^{10}$ is left in its ground state, first excited state, and combined second, third, and fourth excited states, for laboratory energies from 2.30 to 3.77 MeV. The total cross sections exhibit the rapid rise with increasing energy usually shown by heavy-ion reactions at low energies. The ratios of the coefficients of the Legendre polynomials which describe the angular distributions show structure in the neighborhood of 3.2-MeV bombarding energy. This is thought to be indicative of a compound-nucleus contribution.