The elastic scattering and the ⁶He angular distributions were measured in ⁷Li + ⁷Li reaction at two energies, $E_{lab} = 20$ and 25 MeV. FRDWBA calculations have been performed to explain the measured ⁶He data. The calculations were very sensitive to the choice of the optical model potentials in entrance and exit channels. The one-step proton transfer was found to be the dominant reaction mechanism in ⁶He production.

The nuclear fission phenomenon continues to be an enigma, even after nearly 75 years of its discovery. Considerable progress has been made towards understanding the fission process. Both light projectiles and heavy ions have been employed to investigate nuclear fission. An extensive database of the properties of fissionable nuclei has been generated. The theoretical developments to describe the fission phenomenon have kept pace with the progress in the corresponding experimental measurements. As the fission process initiated by the neutrons has been well documented, the present article will be restricted to charged particle-induced fission reactions. The progress made in recent years and the prospects in the area of nuclear fission research will be the focus of this review.

Statistical model analysis is carried out for 𝑝- and 𝛼-induced fission reactions using a consistent description for fission barrier and level density in A ∼ 200 mass region. A continuous damping of shell correction with excitation energy is considered. Extracted fission barriers agree well with the recent microscopic–macroscopic model. The shell corrections at the saddle point were found to be insignificant.

An overview of the experimental result on simultaneous measurement of pre-scission neutron, proton, 𝛼-particle and GDR 𝛾-ray multiplicities for the reaction ²⁸Si+¹⁷⁵Lu at 159 MeV using the BARC–TIFR Pelletron–LINAC accelerator facility is given. The data were analysed using deformation-dependent particle transmission coefficients, binding energies and level densities which are incorporated in the code JOANNE2 to extract fission time-scales and mean deformation of the saddle-to-scission emitter. The neutron, light charged particle and GDR 𝛾-ray multiplicity data could be explained consistently. The emission of neutrons seems to be favoured towards larger deformation as compared to charged particles. The pre-saddle time-scale is deduced as (0–2) × 10⁻²¹ s whereas the saddle-to-scission time-scale is (36–39) × 10⁻²¹ s. The total fission time-scale is deduced as (36–41) × 10⁻²¹ s.