Experimental study of the decays of 112Cs and 111Xe

An experiment to search for the α decay of 112Cs has been performed at the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The α decay of 112Cs was not observed, thus setting the upper limit of the α branching ratio at 0.26%. The half-life of 112Cs was measured as 506±55μs. In the same measurement the decay properties of its proton decay daughter 111Xe were also reinvestigated. The newly measured α branching ratio for 111Xe is 10.4±1.9%. The experimental proton separation energies S_p for odd-Z nuclei above 100Sn were compared to shell model calculations. The calculated proton separation energies for 103Sb and 102Sb point to half-lives of the order of 10 ps and 1 ns, respectively.