Ca 48 + Bk 249 fusion reaction leading to element Z=117: Long-lived α -decaying Db 270 and discovery of Lr 266

J. Khuyagbaatar, A. Yakushev, Ch E. Düllmann, D. Ackermann, L. L. Andersson, M. Asai, M. Block, R. A. Boll, H. Brand, D. M. Cox, M. Dasgupta, X. Derkx, A. Di Nitto, K. Eberhardt, J. Even, M. Evers, C. Fahlander, U. Forsberg, J. M. Gates, N. GharibyanP. Golubev, K. E. Gregorich, J. H. Hamilton, W. Hartmann, R. D. Herzberg, F. P. Heßberger, D. J. Hinde, J. Hoffmann, R. Hollinger, A. Hübner, E. Jäger, B. Kindler, J. V. Kratz, J. Krier, N. Kurz, M. Laatiaoui, S. Lahiri, R. Lang, B. Lommel, M. Maiti, K. Miernik, S. Minami, A. Mistry, C. Mokry, H. Nitsche, J. P. Omtvedt, G. K. Pang, P. Papadakis, D. Renisch, J. Roberto, D. Rudolph, J. Runke, K. P. Rykaczewski, L. G. Sarmiento, M. Schädel, B. Schausten, A. Semchenkov, D. A. Shaughnessy, P. Steinegger, J. Steiner, E. E. Tereshatov, P. Thörle-Pospiech, K. Tinschert, T. Torres De Heidenreich, N. Trautmann, A. Türler, J. Uusitalo, D. E. Ward, M. Wegrzecki, N. Wiehl, S. M. Van Cleve, V. Yakusheva

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    Abstract

    The superheavy element with atomic number Z=117 was produced as an evaporation residue in the Ca48+Bk249 fusion reaction at the gas-filled recoil separator TASCA at GSI Darmstadt, Germany. The radioactive decay of evaporation residues and their α-decay products was studied using a detection setup that allowed measuring decays of single atomic nuclei with half-lives between sub-μs and a few days. Two decay chains comprising seven α decays and a spontaneous fission each were identified and are assigned to the isotope 117294 and its decay products. A hitherto unknown α-decay branch in Db270 (Z=105) was observed, which populated the new isotope Lr266 (Z=103). The identification of the long-lived (T1/2=1.0-0.4+1.9h) α-emitter Db270 marks an important step towards the observation of even more long-lived nuclei of superheavy elements located on an "island of stability."

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number172501
    JournalPhysical Review Letters
    Volume112
    Issue number17
    DOIs
    StatePublished - May 1 2014

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