FRAGMENT ANGULAR-CORRELATION IN THE BREAKUP OF O-16 IONS AT 95 MEV A/

Fragment angular correlations in projectile breakup reactions are very sensitive to interference between different multipolarities entering in the excitation-dissociation process of the projectile. In particula r, it was proposed to disentangle L = 1 and L = 2 contributions in dir ect breakup reactions of O-16 with low relative energy between the alp ha and C-12 fragment, which are of astrophysical interest. We studied the experimental aspects of extracting those angular correlations in e xtreme kinematical conditions usually encountered in breakup experimen ts of astrophysical interest. The breakup of 95 MeV/A O-16 projectiles induced by a Pb-208 target was measured using the high-resolution spe ctrometer SPEG at Ganil for the coincident detection of the fragments. Sequential breakup via the 12.53 MeV level of O-16 is analyzed in thi s framework and it favors an one-step M2 excitation of this level. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.