Superheavy research at RIKEN Original Research Article

At RIKEN, Japan, we performed experiments to study the productions and decays of the heaviest elements produced by 208Pb- and 209Bi- based ‘cold fusion’ reactions. A gas-filled recoil separator GARIS was used for the study. In the study of 209Bi(70Zn, n) reaction, we observed two decay chains originating from an isotope of the 113th element, 178113, which were assigned firstly by generic correlation of the alpha decay chains connected into the previously known decay of 266Bh and 262Db via previously unknown alpha decays of 278113, 274Rg, and 270Mt. In addition, decay properties of an isotope 266Bh and its daughter nucleus 262Db produced by the 248Cm(23Na, 5n) reaction were studied. 266Bh was clearly identified from the correlation of the known nuclide, 262Db, providing further confirmation of the discovery of 278113.