Two-particle correlations from neutron–light-charged-particle coincidences

The first correlation functions from a neutron–light-charged-particle small-angle coincidence measurement are reported for the ${}_{}{}^{16}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{O}$${+}^{27}$Al reaction at E${(}^{16}$O)=215 MeV. Clear evidence for singlet-deuteron and ${}_{}{}^5{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{He}$ production, and an anticorrelation of low-relative-momentum neutron-dueteron pairs, is observed. The nuclear temperature of 1.6±0.3 MeV, calculated from the ratio of excited-state to ground-state deuteron emission and corrected for sequential emission, is considerably lower than expected.