Application of radioanalytical techniques in the study of the products of heavy-ion reactions

Abstract

The use of heavy ions to induce nuclear reactions was reported as early as 1950. Since then it has been one of the most active areas of nuclear research. Intense beams of ions as heavy as uranium with energies high enough to overcome the Coulomb barriers of even the heaviest elements are available. The large variety of possible reactions gives rise to a multitude of products, which have been studied by many chemical and physical techniques. Chemical techniques have been of special value for the separation and unequivocal identification of low-yield species from the plethora of other nuclides present. Heavy-ion reactions have been essential for the production of the transmendelevium elements and a host of new isotopes. The systematics of compound nucleus reactions, transfer reactions and deeply inelastic reactions have been elucidated using chemical techniques. The variety of chemical procedures and techniques which have been developed for the study of heavy-ion reactions and their products has been examined. The determination of the chemical properties of the transmendelevium elements, which are very short-lived and can only be produced an “atom at a time” via heavy-ion reactions, is discussed.