C. Golabek

Isotopic Yield Distributions of Transfer- and Fusion-Induced Fission from 238U+12C Reactions in Inverse Kinematics

A novel method to access the complete identification in atomic number Z and mass A of fragments produced in low-energy fission of actinides is presented. This method, based on the use of multi- nucleon transfer and fusion reactions in inverse kinematics, is applied in this work to reactions between a 238U beam and a 12C target to produce and induce fission of moderately excited actinides. The fission fragments are detected and fully identified with the VAMOS spectrometer of GANIL, allowing the measurement of fragment yields of several hundreds of isotopes in a range between A ~ 80 and ~ 160, and from Z ~ 30 to ~ 64. For the first time, complete isotopic yield distributions of fragments from well-defined fissioning systems are available. Together with the precise measurement of the fragment emission angles and velocities, this technique gives further insight into the nuclear-fission process.

Characterization of the scission point from fission-fragment velocities

The isotopic-yield distributions and kinematic properties of fragments produced in transfer-induced fission of 240Pu and fusion-induced fission of 250Cf, with 9 MeV and 45 MeV of excitation energy respectively, were measured in inverse kinematics with the spectrometer VAMOS. The kinematic properties of identified fission fragments allow to derive properties of the scission configuration such as the distance between fragments, the total kinetic energy, the neutron multiplicity, the total excitation energy, and, for the first time, the proton- and neutron-number sharing during the emergence of the fragments. These properties of the scission point are studied as functions of the fragment atomic number. The correlation between these observables, gathered in one single experiment and for two different fissioning systems at different excitation energies, give valuable information for the understanding and modeling of the fission process.

Isotopic fission fragment distributions as a deep probe to fusion-fission dynamics

During the fission process, the atomic nucleus deforms and elongates up to the two fragments inception and their final separation at the scission deformation. The evolution of the nucleus energy with deformation defines a potential energy landscape in the multidimensional deformation space. It is determined by the macroscopic properties of the nucleus, and is also strongly influenced by the single-particle structure of the nucleus, which modifies the macroscopic energy minima. The fission fragment distribution is a direct consequence of the deformation path the nucleus has encountered, and therefore is the most genuine experimental observation of the potential energy landscape of the deforming nucleus. Very asymmetric fusion-fission reactions at energy close to the Coulomb barrier, produce well-defined conditions of the compound nucleus formation, where processes such as quasi-fission, pre-equilibrium emission and incomplete fusion are negligible. In the same time, the excitation energy is sufficient to reduce significantly structural effects, and mostly the macroscopic part of the potential is responsible for the formation of the fission fragments. We use inverse kinematics combined with a spectrometer to select and identify the fission fragments produced in 238U+12C at a bombarding energy close to and well-above the Coulomb barrier. For the first time, the isotopic yields are measured over the complete atomic-number distribution, between Z=30 and Z=63. In the experimental set-up, it is also possible to identify transfer-induced reactions, which lead to low-energy fission

Isotopic resolution of fission fragments from 238U+12C transfer and fusion reactions

Recent results from an experiment at GANIL, performed to investigate the main prop- erties of fission-fragment yields and energy distributions in different fissioning nuclei as a function of the excitation energy, in a neutron-rich region of actini des, are presented. Transfer reactions in inverse kinematics between a 238 U beam and a 12 C target produced different actinides, within a range of excitation energy below 30 MeV. These fissioning nuc lei are identified by detecting the target-like recoil, and their kinetic and excitation energ y are determined from the reconstruction of the transfer reaction. The large-acceptance spectrometer VAMOS was used to identify the mass, atomic number and charge state of the fission fragments in flig ht. As a result, the characteristics of the fission-fragment isotopic distributions of a variety of neutron-rich actinides are observed for the first time over the complete range of fission fragments.

SEARCH FOR A LONG LIVING GIANT SYSTEM IN 238U+238U COLLISIONS NEAR THE COULOMB BARRIER

We searched for a long-living component in the collision of 238U+238U between 6.09 A and 7.35 A MeV. The experiment was performed at GANIL using the spectrometer VAMOS, tuned for observing reactions with kinematics similar to quasi-fission events. Theoretical calculations indicate that reactions with strong energy dissipation and a large number of transferred nucleons are correlated to a time delay in the decay of the giant system. We detected events of such type in the focal plane of VAMOS. These events present an excitation function increasing with bombarding energy.

Search for a long lived component in the reaction U+U near the Coulomb barrier

We performed an experiment to search for a signature of a long living component in the collision of 238U + 238U between 6.09 and 7.35A MeV. The experiment was performed at GANIL using the spectrometer VAMOS, tuned for observing reactions with kinematics similar to fusion‐fission events. Theoretical calculations indicate that if a long living component would exist for this reaction, the most probable fission channel of such a giant system would be via the emission of quasi‐lead nuclei. We detected events of such a category in the focal plane of VAMOS. These events present an excitation function growing as a function of the bombarding energy.