  The excitation function for the fusion-evaporation reaction 64Ni+100Mo has
been measured down to a cross-section of ~5 nb. Extensive coupled-channels
calculations have been performed, which cannot reproduce the steep fall-off of
the excitation function at extreme sub-barrier energies. Thus, this system
exhibits a hindrance for fusion, a phenomenon that has been discovered only
recently. In the S-factor representation introduced to quantify the hindrance,
a maximum is observed at E_s=120.6 MeV, which corresponds to 90% of the
reference energy E_s^ref, a value expected from systematics of closed-shell
systems. A systematic analysis of Ni-induced fusion reactions leading to
compound nuclei with mass A=100-200 is presented in order to explore a possible
dependence of the fusion hindrance on nuclear structure.
