Independent verification of the production of element 114 in the reaction of 244-MeV ;{48}Ca with ;{242}Pu is presented. Two chains of time- and position-correlated decays have been assigned to ;{286}114 and ;{287}114. The observed decay modes, half-lives, and decay energies agree with published results. The measured cross sections at a center-of-target energy of 244 MeV for the ;{242}Pu(;{48}Ca,3-4n);{287,286}114 reactions were 1.4_{-1.2};{+3.2} pb each, which are lower than the reported values.
The SISAK liquid-liquid extraction system was used to extract 4.0-s Rf. The Rf was produced in the reaction Pb(Ti, 1n)Rf with 237-MeV beam energy on target, separated in the Berkeley Gas-filled Separator (BGS) and transferred to a gas jet using the Recoil Transfer Chamber (RTC). The activity delivered by the gas jet was dissolved in 6-M HNO3 and Rf was extracted into 0.25-M dibutyl-phosphoric acid in toluene. This was the first time a transactinide, i.e., an element with Z•¬104, was extracted and unequivocally identified by the SISAK system. Thus, this pilot experiment demonstrates that the fast liquid-liquid extraction system SISAK, in combination with liquidscintillation detectors, can be used for investigating the chemical properties of the transactinides. The extraction result is in accordance with the behaviour shown by the Rf group IV homologues Zr and Hf.
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