(d, t) Reaction Studies on Iron and Nickel

Angular distributions and absolute cross sections have been measured for the ($d, t$) reactions on ${\mathrm{Fe}}^{54}$, ${\mathrm{Fe}}^{58}$, ${\mathrm{Ni}}^{58}$, ${\mathrm{Ni}}^{60}$, and ${\mathrm{Ni}}^{61}$ at a deuteron energy of 21.6 MeV. Sum rules are used to interpret the resulting reduced widths in terms of the average occupation numbers of the $1f_{\frac{7}{2}}$, $2p$, and $1f_{\frac{5}{2}}$ orbits in the various target ground states. The average occupation numbers so obtained are compared with the predictions of the pairing model of Kisslinger and Sorensen. We examine whether our conclusions are consistent with the results of ($d, p$) experiments on ${\mathrm{Ni}}^{58}$ and ${\mathrm{Ni}}^{60}$.