The energy spectra of deuterons from the ($\ensuremath{\alpha}, d$) reaction on ${\mathrm{C}}^{12}$, ${\mathrm{N}}^{14}$, ${\mathrm{N}}^{15}$, ${\mathrm{O}}^{16}$, ${\mathrm{Ne}}^{20}$, ${\mathrm{Mg}}^{24}$, ${\mathrm{Mg}}^{26}$, ${\mathrm{Si}}^{28}$, ${\mathrm{S}}^{32}$, ${\mathrm{Ar}}^{40}$, and ${\mathrm{Ca}}^{40}$ have been observed. These reactions were induced by alpha particles ranging in energy from 42 to 53 MeV. All the energy spectra were dominated by one or more preferentially populated levels. Evidence that these levels have a common configuration is obtained from (a) the relationship between their $Q$ values of formation and the mass number of the recoil nuclei, and (b) the similarity of their angular distributions. It is proposed that the levels preferentially populated are of a ${[{J}_{T}+{({j}_{p}{j}_{n})}_{{J}^{\ensuremath{'}}}]}_{J}$ configuration, with the proton-neutron pair captured in the ${d}_{\frac{5}{2}}$ or ${f}_{\frac{7}{2}}$ shell, and that the maximum final spin (5, 6, or 7) is favored. A self-consistent energy-level scheme for the low-lying levels of ${\mathrm{Sc}}^{42}$ is also proposed.
The energy spectra of deuterons from the ${\mathrm{C}}^{12}(\ensuremath{\alpha}, d){\mathrm{N}}^{14}$ reaction have been studied up to an excitation of 21 MeV. The reaction was induced by 53-MeV alpha particles from the Berkeley 88-in. spiral-ridge cyclotron, and the reaction products were distinguished by a new type of particle identifier. The observed selectivity of final state population is correlated with the predicted configurations for many ${\mathrm{N}}^{14}$ levels and several new assignments are made.
