{sup 3}He and {sup 4}He Induced Nuclear Fission - a Test of the Transition State Method

Fission in {sup 3}H and {sup 4}He induced reactions at excitation energies between the fission barrier and 140 MeV has been investigated. Twenty-three fission excitation functions of various compound nuclei in different mass regions are shown to scale exactly according to the transition state prediction once the shell effects are accounted for. New precise measurements of excitation functions in a mass region where shell effects are very strong, allow one to test the predictions with an even higher accuracy. The fact that no deviations from the transition state method have been observed within the experimentally investigated excitation energy regime allows one to assign limits for the fission transient time. The precise measurement of fission excitation functions of neighboring isotopes enables one to experimentally estimate the first chance fission probability. Even if only first chance fission is investigated, no evidence for fission transient times larger than 30 zs can be found.