Mechanism of the $$^{144}$$ 144 Sm( $$^7$$ 7 Li, $$^6$$ 6 Li $$^*_{3+}$$ 3 + ∗ ) $$^{145}$$ 145 Sm reaction at 30 MeV

In a recent experiment investigating the origin of the $$\alpha $$ particle yield in the $$^7$$ Li + $$^{144}$$  Sm system the measured $$\alpha + d$$ coincidences at a bombarding energy of 30 MeV were shown to arise from decay of the 2.186-MeV $$3^+$$ resonance of $$^6$$ Li. In this work we demonstrate that the laboratory frame $$\alpha $$ particle angular distribution extracted from these data can be well described by a standard coupled channels Born approximation calculation and, furthermore, that the mechanism is dominated by direct, one-step single neutron stripping to the $$3^+$$ resonance, as shown previously for the $$^7$$ Li + $$^{65}$$ Cu and $$^{93}$$ Nb systems.