Fine structure in the alpha decay of 224 U

A. Lopez-Martens; K. Hauschild; K. Rezynkina; O. Dorvaux; B. Gall; F. Déchery; H. Faure; A. V. Yeremin; M. L. Chelnokov; V. I. Chepigin; A. V. Isaev; I. N. Izosimov; D. E. Katrasev; A. N. Kuznetsov; A. A. Kuznetsova; O. N. Malyshev; A. G. Popeko; E. A. Sokol; A. I. Svirikhin; J. Piot; J. Rubert

doi:10.1140/epja/i2014-14132-8

2021 Impact factor 3.131

Hadrons and Nuclei

Eur. Phys. J. A (2014) 50: 132
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2014-14132-8

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Fine structure in the alpha decay of ²²⁴ U

A. Lopez-Martens¹^*, K. Hauschild¹, K. Rezynkina¹, O. Dorvaux², B. Gall², F. Déchery², H. Faure², A. V. Yeremin³, M. L. Chelnokov³, V. I. Chepigin³, A. V. Isaev³, I. N. Izosimov³, D. E. Katrasev³, A. N. Kuznetsov³, A. A. Kuznetsova³, O. N. Malyshev³, A. G. Popeko³, E. A. Sokol³, A. I. Svirikhin³, J. Piot⁴ and J. Rubert²^,5

¹ CSNSM, Université Paris Sud, CNRS-IN2P3, Orsay, France
² IPHC, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS-IN2P3, Strasbourg, France
³ FLNR, JINR, Dubna, Russia
⁴ GANIL, CEA-DSM, CNRS-IN2P3, Caen, France
⁵ LPSC, Université Grenoble-Alpes, CNRS-IN2P3, Grenoble, France

^* e-mail: araceli.lopez-martens@csnsm.in2p3.fr

Received: 14 May 2014
Revised: 23 July 2014
Accepted: 27 July 2014
Published online: 25 August 2014

Abstract

²²⁴U nuclei were populated in fusion-evaporation reactions using a ²⁰⁶Pb target and an intense ²²Ne beam. Fusion-evaporation residues were separated by the new separator SHELS at the FLNR, Dubna and implanted into a large-area double-sided silicon strip detector. Position- and time-correlated alpha decays were used to identify evaporation residues. A new -decay line at 8095(11) keV was observed in this work and assigned as the decay from ²²⁴U to the first excited 2⁺ in the daughter nucleus ²²⁰Th. Coincident photons were also observed allowing to unambiguously determine the excitation energy of the first excited 2⁺ state in ²²⁰Th to be 386.5(1) keV and not 373.3(1)keV as previously reported. The half-life of ²²⁴U was measured to be 396(17)μs.