Seaborgium - Nucleosynthesis - Cold Fusion Experiments

Cold Fusion Experiments

This section deals with the synthesis of nuclei of seaborgium by so-called "cold" fusion reactions. These are processes which create compound nuclei at low excitation energy (~10-20 MeV, hence "cold"), leading to a higher probability of survival from fission. The excited nucleus then decays to the ground state via the emission of one or two neutrons only.

208Pb(54Cr,xn)262-xSg (x=1,2,3)

The first attempt to synthesise seaborgium in cold fusion reactions was performed in September 1974 by a Soviet team led by G. N. Flerov at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research at Dubna. They reported producing a 0.48 s spontaneous fission (SF) activity which they assigned to the isotope 259Sg. Based on later evidence it was suggested that the team most likely measured the decay of 260Sg and its daughter 256Rf. The TWG concluded that, at the time, the results were insufficiently convincing.

The Dubna team revisited this problem in 1983-1984 and were able to detect a 5 ms SF activity assigned directly to 260Sg.

The team at GSI studied this reaction for the first time in 1985 using the improved method of correlation of genetic parent-daughter decays. They were able to detect 261Sg (x=1) and 260Sg and measured a partial 1n neutron evaporation excitation function.

In December 2000, the reaction was studied by a team at GANIL, France and were able to detect 10 atoms of 261Sg and 2 atoms of 260Sg to add to previous data on the reaction.

After a facility upgrade, the GSI team measured the 1n excitation function in 2003 using a metallic lead target. Of significance, in May 2003, the team successfully replaced the lead-208 target with more resistant lead(II) sulfide targets (PbS) which will allow more intense beams to be used in the future. They were able to measure the 1n,2n and 3n excitation functions and performed the first detailed alpha-gamma spectroscopy on the isotope 261Sg. They detected ~1600 atoms of the isotope and identified new alpha lines as well as measuring a more accurate half-life and new EC and SF branchings. Furthermore, they were able to detect the K X-rays from the daughter rutherfordium element for the first time. They were also able to provide improved data for 260Sg, including the tentative observation of an isomeric level. The study was continued in September 2005 and March 2006. The accumulated work on 261Sg was published in 2007. Work in September 2005 also aimed to begin spectroscopic studies on 260Sg.

The team at the LBNL recently restudied this reaction in an effort to look at the spectroscopy of the isotope 261Sg. They were able to detect a new isomer, 261mSg, decaying by internal conversion into the ground state. In the same experiment, they were also able to confirm a K-isomer in the daughter 257Rf, namely 257m2Rf.

207Pb(54Cr,xn)261-xSg (x=1,2)

The team at Dubna also studied this reaction in 1974 with identical results as for their first experiments with a Pb-208 target. The SF activities were first assigned to 259Sg and later to 260Sg and/or 256Rf. Further work in 1983-1984 also detected a 5 ms SF activity assigned to the parent 260Sg.

The GSI team studied this reaction for the first time in 1985 using the method of correlation of genetic parent-daughter decays. They were able to positively identify 259Sg as a product from the 2n neutron evaporation channel.

The reaction was further used in March 2005 using PbS targets to begin a spectroscopic study of the even-even isotope 260Sg.

206Pb(54Cr,xn)260-xSg

This reaction was studied in 1974 by the team at Dubna. It was used to assist them in their assignment of the observed SF activities in reactions using Pb-207 and Pb-208 targets. They were unable to detect any SF, indicating the formation of isotopes decaying primarily by alpha decay.

208Pb(52Cr,xn)260-xSg (x=1,2)

The team at Dubna also studied this reaction in their series of cold fusion reactions performed in 1974. Once again they were unable to detect any SF activities. The reaction was revisited in 2006 by the team at LBNL as part of their studies on the effect of the isospin of the projectile and hence the mass number of the compound nucleus on the yield of evaporation residues. They were able to identify 259Sg and 258Sg in their measurement of the 1n excitation function.

209Bi(51V,xn)260-xSg (x=2)

The team at Dubna also studied this reaction in their series of cold fusion reactions performed in 1974. Once again they were unable to detect any SF activities. In 1994, the synthesis of seaborgium was revisited using this reaction by the GSI team, in order to study the new even-even isotope 258Sg. Ten atoms of 258Sg were detected and decayed by spontaneous fission.