An axial asymmetry about, the direction of motion of Li⁵ has been seen in the breakup of the ground state of this nucleus as an intermediate state in the reaction Li⁶(He³,pα)He⁴. The total cross section for this process was found to be a few hundred millibarns, an order of magnitude greater than predicted by a statistical model calculation, and the asymmetry amounts to a factor of 2.0 ± 0.3 in the double, differential cross section. It is shown that this asymmetry in the secondary decay of the sequential breakup process can arise from the memory retained by the intermediate state of its structure during the primary reaction, in which a neutron is transferred from Li⁶ to He³. It was found that the strength of the asymmetry is sharply dependent upon the duration of the final state interaction. This confirms the proposed interpretation and suggests that further data could lead to useful information regarding correlation of the p-shell nucleons in the Li⁶ ground state. / Science, Faculty of / Physics and Astronomy, Department of / Graduate