Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Space Industry and Business News .




TECH SPACE
Search for element 113 concluded at last
by Staff Writers
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Sep 27, 2012


Focal plane detectors. Credit: RIKEN.

The most unambiguous data to date on the elusive 113th atomic element has been obtained by researchers at the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-based Science (RNC).

A chain of six consecutive alpha decays, produced in experiments at the RIKEN Radioisotope Beam Factory (RIBF), conclusively identifies the element through connections to well-known daughter nuclides. The groundbreaking result, reported in the Journal of Physical Society of Japan, sets the stage for Japan to claim naming rights for the element.

The search for superheavy elements is a difficult and painstaking process. Such elements do not occur in nature and must be produced through experiments involving nuclear reactors or particle accelerators, via processes of nuclear fusion or neutron absorption.

Since the first such element was discovered in 1940, the United States, Russia and Germany have competed to synthesize more of them.

Elements 93 to 103 were discovered by the Americans, elements 104 to 106 by the Russians and the Americans, elements 107 to 112 by the Germans, and the two most recently named elements, 114 and 116, by cooperative work of the Russians and Americans.

With their latest findings, associate chief scientist Kosuke Morita and his team at the RNC are set follow in these footsteps and make Japan the first country in Asia to name an atomic element.

For many years Morita's team has conducted experiments at the RIKEN Linear Accelerator Facility in Wako, near Tokyo, in search of the element, using a custom-built gas-filled recoil ion separator (GARIS) coupled to a position-sensitive semiconductor detector to identify reaction products.

On August 12, those experiments bore fruit: zinc ions travelling at 10% the speed of light collided with a thin bismuth layer to produce a very heavy ion followed by a chain of six consecutive alpha decays identified as products of an isotope of the 113th element (Figure 1).

While the team also detected element 113 in experiments conducted in 2004 and 2005, earlier results identified only four decay events followed by the spontaneous fission of dubnium-262 (element 105).

In addition to spontaneous fission, the isotope dubnium-262 is known to also decay via alpha decay, but this was not observed, and naming rights were not granted since the final products were not well known nuclides at the time.

The decay chain detected in the latest experiments, however, takes the alternative alpha decay route, with data indicating that dubnium decayed into lawrencium-258 (element 103) and finally into mendelevium-254 (element 101). The decay of dubnium-262 to lawrencium-258 is well known and provides unambiguous proof that element 113 is the origin of the chain.

Combined with their earlier experimental results, the team's groundbreaking discovery of the six-step alpha decay chain promises to clinch their claim to naming rights for the 113th element.

"For over 9 years, we have been searching for data conclusively identifying element 113, and now that at last we have it, it feels like a great weight has been lifted from our shoulders," Morita said.

"I would like to thank all the researchers and staff involved in this momentous result, who persevered with the belief that one day, 113 would be ours. For our next challenge, we look to the uncharted territory of element 119 and beyond."

Kosuke Morita et al. "New Result in the Production and Decay of an Isotope, (278)113, of the 113th Element." Journal of Physical Society of Japan, 2012. DOI: 10.1143/JPSJ.81.103201.

.


Related Links
RIKEN
Space Technology News - Applications and Research






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








TECH SPACE
Date palm juice: A potential new 'green' anti-corrosion agent for aerospace industry
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 27, 2012
The search for a "greener" way to prevent corrosion on the kind of aluminum used in jetliners, cars and other products has led scientists to an unlikely source, according to a report in ACS' journal Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research. It's the juice of the date palm - those tall, majestic trees that, until now, were noted mainly as sources of food and traditional medicines. ... read more


TECH SPACE
Search for element 113 concluded at last

Kodak dumps inkjet printers, more jobs

Sleek new PlayStation 3 model makes US debut

Pigs' revenge as 'Angry Birds' makers launch new game

TECH SPACE
Raytheon to provide Joint Tactical Terminal radios with latest security features to US Navy

Northrop Grumman Awarded Contract to Extend BACN Communications Connectivity to the Tactical Edge

Hughes Awarded Custom SATCOM Solutions Contract by GSA

4 SOPS begins testing newest AEHF satellite

TECH SPACE
California Governor Signs the Spaceflight Liability and Immunity Act

Processing is underway with the next Automated Transfer Vehicle to be orbited by Arianespace

Fueling underway with the Galileo satellites for next Soyuz launch from French Guiana

SpaceX, NASA Target Oct. 7 Launch For Resupply Mission To Space Station

TECH SPACE
Northrop Grumman to Improve Performance of MEMS Inertial Sensors for DARPA

Lockheed Martin Delivers Propulsion Core for the First GPS III Satellite

China launches another 2 navigation system satellites

Improved positioning indoors

TECH SPACE
Brazil to delay jet decision until 2013, no favorite

Poland seeking 70 new military helicopters: PM

US Army Awards Lockheed Martin Apache M-TADS/PNVS Performance Based Logistics Contract

Boeing Receives Contract for 11 P-8A Poseidon Aircraft

TECH SPACE
Oscillating microscopic beads could be key to biolab on a chip

Japan Inc. comes together to save Renesas: report

Optical Waveguide Connects Semiconductor Chips

Single-atom writer a landmark for quantum computing

TECH SPACE
Apple CEO sorry for maps shortcomings

Landslide mapping in the Swiss Alps

China may toughen laws on 'illegal' mapping: state media

Radar altimetry gains altitude in Venice

TECH SPACE
Remarkable enzyme points the way to reducing nitric acid use in industry

Solving the stink from sewers

Measuring mercury levels: Nano-velcro detects water-borne toxic metals

Indonesian lives risked on 'world's most polluted' river




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement