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In spite of the huge amount of fission yield data available in different libraries, more accurate values are still needed for nuclear energy applications and to improve our understanding of the fission process. Thus measurements of fission yields were performed at the mass spectrometer Lohengrin at the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France. The mass separator Lohengrin is situated at the research reactor of the institute and permits the placement of an actinide layer in a high thermal neutron flux. It separates fragments according to their atomic mass, kinetic energy and ionic charge state by the action of magnetic and electric fields. Coupled to a high resolution ionization chamber the experiment was used to investigate the mass and isotopic yields in the light mass region. Almost all fission yields of isotopes from Th to Cf have been measured at Lohengrin with this method. It has been extended in this work to the heavy mass region for the reactions 235U(nth,f), 239Pu(nth,f), and 241Pu(nth,f). For these higher masses an isotopic separation is no longer possible. So, a new method was undertaken with the reaction 239Pu(nth,f) to determine the isotopic yields by γ spectrometry. The results are presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some neutrons are emitted from fission fragments several seconds to several minutes after fission occurs. These delayed neutrons play a key role for the conduct and in safety aspects of nuclear reactors [1]. But the probabilities to emit such neutrons (Pn) are not well known. A summary of different database and compilation of Pn values is presented to show these discrepancies and uncertainties. Experiments are carried out at the Lohengrin mass spectrometer (at Institut Laue Langevin in Grenoble) and at the ISOLDE facility (CERN) in order to measure some Pn values. Two different techniques are used: either by using gamma-rays detection or neutron emission detection. These two techniques and some preliminary results are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interest in the study of the fission process of superheavy nuclei mainly deals with the opportunity to obtain information about the cross-section of the compound nucleus (CN) formation at excitation energies E*≈15–30 MeV. It allows one to estimate the survival probability of the superheavy composite system after evaporation of 1–3 neutrons, i.e. in “cold” or “warm” fusion reactions. However, in order to solve this problem deeper understanding of the coalescence processes between colliding nuclei, the competition between fusion-fission and quasi-fission processes is needed. The characteristics of both processes, their manifestation in the experimental observables and the relative contribution to the capture cross-section in dependence on the excitation energies, reaction entrance channel etc were investigated for a wide range of target-projectile combinations. Results of the experiments devoted to the study of the fusion-fission and quasi-fission processes in the reactions of the formation of the superheavy nuclei with Z = 102–122 are presented. The heavy ions 26Mg, 48Ca, 50Ti, 58Fe and 64Ni were used as projectiles. The choice of the reactions with 48Ca and actinide-targets was inspired by the experiments on the production of the isotopes 283112, 289114 and 283116 in Dubna using the same reactions. The 50Ti, 58Fe and 64Ni projectiles were chosen since the corresponding projectile-target combinations lead to the synthesis of even heavier elements. The experiments were carried out at the U-400 accelerator of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions (JINR, Russia) and the XTU Tandem accelerator of the National Laboratory of Legnaro (LNL, Italy) using the time-of-flight spectrometer of fission fragments CORSET. The role of the shell effects, the influence of the entrance channel asymmetry and the deformations of colliding nuclei on the mechanism of the fusion-fission and the competitive process of quasi-fission are discussed. The recent results on synthesis of superheavy nuclei and the perspectives of the “hot” fusion reaction for the production of superheavy nuclei are considered. © 2006 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results of the experiments aimed at the study of fission and quasi-fission processes in the reactions 12C+204Pb, 48Ca+144,154Sm, 168Er, 208Pb, 238U, 244Pu, 248Cm; 58Fe+208Pb, 244Pu, 248Cm, and 64Ni+186W, 242Pu are presented. The choice of the above-mentioned reactions was inspired by the experiments on the production of the isotopes 283112, 289114 and 283116 at Dubna using the same reactions. The 58Fe and 64Ni projectiles were chosen since the corresponding projectile-target combinations lead to the synthesis of even heavier elements. The experiments were carried out at the U-400 accelerator of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions (JINR, Russia), the XTU Tandem accelerator of the National Laboratory of Legnaro (LNL, Italy) and the Accelerator of the Laboratory of University of Jyvaskyla (JYFL, Finland) using the time-of-flight spectrometer of fission fragments CORSET and the neutron multi-detector DEMON. The role of shell effects and the influence of the entrance channel asymmetry and the deformations of colliding nucleus on the mechanism of the fusion-fission and the competitive process of quasi-fission are discussed. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nuclear dissipation in capture reactions is investigated using backtracing. Combining the analysis procedure with dynamical models, the difficult and long-standing problem of competition and mixing of quasi-fission and fusion-fission is solved for the first time. At low excitation energy a new protocol able to handle low statistics data gives access to the prescission neutron multiplicity in two different systems 48Ca + 208Pb, Pu. The results are in agreement with a domination of fusion-fission in the case of 256No and an equal mixing of quasi-fission and fusion-fission in the case of Z=114. The nature of the relevant dissipation is determined as one-body dissipation. © 2004 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]