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Home , Decay chain, Decay product, Electron shell, Island of stability, Isotopes of plutonium, Mendelevium

16 S&TR January/February 2002

When they synthesized LEMENTS that do not exist in E —that have been created in a elements 114 and 116, laboratory—are unstable. After or days of one element bombarding Russian and Livermore another with enough for both to fuse, the resulting new element typically scientists confirmed is born and begins to decay instantly. and decades-old (elements 93 and 94) were the first elements created in a laboratory, at the predictions of the University of California at Berkeley in 1940. Scientists have since fabricated existence of superheavy many more elements, each one heavier and with a shorter half-life than the elements with one before it. In the 1960s, a few physicists comparatively long predicted that some elements around element 114 would survive longer than lifetimes. any of their synthesized predecessors. Early estimates for the half-lives of these more stable elements were as high as billions of . Later computer modeling reduced the anticipated half- lives to or minutes before the element began to decay. Half-lives of seconds or minutes may seem brief. But consider that various of element 110 created in the laboratory have had half-lives ranging from 100 microseconds to 1.1 milliseconds. The only of element 112 that had been created before 1998 had a lifetime of 480 microseconds. As described further in the box on p. 21, the long- lived nuclei of elements around element 114 would comprise an “” in a “sea” of highly unstable elements. When a collaboration of Russian and Livermore scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory S&TR January/February 2002 Elements 114 and 116 17

Map of the voyage to the island 114 of stability. Island of stability of superheavy spherical nuclei

Shoal of 100 deformed number nuclei

Thalium 90 Plutonium

Lead Mountains

Continent

126 142 146 162 184 number

Dubna, Russia, created element 114 different , thereby making it a representing Livermore and Yuri in 1998, the first atom survived for different of element 114. The Oganessian, scientific director of 30 seconds before it began to decay, team has also created several the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear a spontaneous process that to previously undiscovered of Reactions at the Joint Institute, the creation of another element with elements 112, 110, and 108 to which leading the Russians. In the early a lower number on the . element 114 decayed. More recently, 1990s, the U.S.–Russian team (See the box on pp.18–19for more the team added element 116 to the discovered two isotopes of element 106, information on stability and instability.) periodic table with the creation of one isotope of 108, and one of 110 at A total of 34 minutes elapsed before three atoms of the element in a series the institute. the final fissioned, of experiments. “In 1990, when Ron Lougheed, splitting in two the surviving nucleus. Nuclear chemist Ken Moody who has since retired, and I went to These lifetimes may seem brief, but leads the Livermore portion of the Dubna, we were the first U.S. scientists they are millions of times longer than international collaboration. “In 1998, to perform experiments at that those of other recently synthesized we proved that there really was an institute,” adds Moody. “Remember heavy elements. island of stability,” he said. “We what was happening then. The Berlin Since that groundbreaking effort in proved that years of nuclear theory Wall had just fallen, and Eastern 1998, the team has created another actually worked.” Europe was in turmoil. The early days atom of element 114. This one has a The collaboration began in 1989. of the collaboration were definitely different number of and thus a with heavy element chemist Ken Hulet interesting.”

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 18 Elements 114 and 116 S&TR January/February 2002

Photo of Forty Days and Nights Russian– Noah’s flood could have come Livermore and gone in the time it took the team. collaboration to create the first atom of element 114. For 40 days of virtually continuous operation, bombarded a spinning target of plutonium in Dubna’s U400 . While the first atom of element 114 was actually created on November 22, 1998, Russian researchers discovered it in data analysis and communicated the news to Livermore on December 25, 1998— quite the Christmas present.

A Primer on Stability and Instability

Why should element 114 be so much more stable and long-lived filled. -208 has 82 and 126 neutrons, both of which are than so many of its synthesized predecessors? The answer lies in magic numbers. Lead-208 is thus doubly magic and seems to be basic . virtually eternal. The nucleus of an atom is surrounded by one or more orbital A long-lived, stable element such as lead does not decay. shells of . The configurations of atoms of the many However, all elements with an greater than 83 elements vary periodically with their atomic number, hence “the () exhibit . Decay may happen in several periodic table of the elements.” ways. For heavy elements, an unstable or radioactive isotope usually Elements with unfilled shells seek out electrons in other elements decays by emitting nuclei (alpha particles) or electrons (beta to fill them. These include , , and all of the “reactive” particles), leaving a daughter nucleus of an element with a different elements that want to react with other elements. This is the basis of number of protons. This process typically continues until a stable covalent bonding. The noble gases (on the far right column of the nucleus is reached. Plutonium, for example, decays ultimately to lead. periodic table) have a completely filled outer and hence The heavy elements that have been created in the laboratory are are highly stable. They are termed noble because they are “aloof,” so unstable that they decay almost immediately and have extremely with no desire to react with other elements. 1 2 Protons and neutrons are in analogous H He Periodic table Helium shells within the nucleus. The proton shells of 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Li Be B C N O F Ne helium, oxygen, calcium, , , and lead Carbon Oxygen 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 are completely filled and arranged such that Na Mg Al Si P S Cl Ar the nucleus has achieved extra stability. The Aluminum 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 atomic numbers of these elements—2, 8, 20, K Ca Sc Ti V Cr Mn Fe Co Ni Cu Zn Ga Ge As Se Br Kr Calcium Nickel 28, 50, and 82—are known as “magic numbers.” 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Mo Tc Ru Rh Pd Ag Cd In Sn Sb Te I Xe These same numbers plus 126 are magic Yitrium Zircnium Tin 55 56 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 numbers for neutrons. Notice that the magic See Cs Ba Lantha- Hf Ta W Re Os Ir Pt Au Hg Tl Pb Bi Po At Rn numbers are all even. No truly stable element Cesium nides Tantaium Lead Bismuth 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 87 88 See 104 114 116 heavier than nitrogen has an odd number of Fr Ra Acti- Rf Ha Sg Bh Hs Mt both protons and neutrons. Elements with even nides Rutherfordiumm Hahnium numbers of protons and neutrons make up 57–71 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 Ln* La Ce Pr Nd Pm Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb Lu about 90 percent of ’s crust. Lanthanides 89–103 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 A nucleus is “doubly magic” when the An* Ac Th Pa U Np Pu Am Cm Bk Cf Es Fm Md No Lr shells of both the protons and neutrons are Actinides Uranium Neptunium Plutonium

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory S&TR January/February 2002 Elements 114 and 116 19

The box on p. 22 shows the “recipe” collide with enough energy to fission. In , an isotope loses for the early Dubna experiments that overcome their mutual electrostatic an , which is two protons created isotopes of element 114. repulsion, the compound nucleus has and two neutrons (or a helium nucleus). Plutonium, with an atomic number, or excess energy. A few neutrons For example, an atom of element 114 Z, of 94, and calcium, Z = 20, add up evaporate to de-excite the nucleus and with 175 neutrons (described as isotope to the necessary Z = 114. By fusing produce an isotope with 175 neutrons. 114-289) would emit an alpha particle, plutonium-244, an isotope of plutonium To discover whether new elements thereby becoming isotope 112-285, with 150 neutrons, and calcium-48, a were created by the bombardment of having lost 2 protons and 2 neutrons. neutron-rich isotope with 28 neutrons, plutonium, the team was interested in The atom of 112-285 would become a compound nucleus with 114 protons finding “events” comprising a series of 110-281, which would become 108-277. and 178 neutrons (150 + 28) would in alpha decays ending with spontaneous At some point, fission would occur, theory be possible. In ending the process. fact, however, when the At the same time, plutonium-244 and however, unwanted calcium-48 nuclei nuclei generated by

Nuclear theory short half-lives and thus (top) in the U.S. lifetimes. How quickly a and (bottom) in particular isotope decays Russia, in about is measured by its half- 1969. life. Plutonium-239, which decays very slowly, has a half-life of about 24,000 years, while plutonium-238’s half-life is just 88 years. Half-lives are a result of a statistical process. If an experiment produces only one atom, then a half-life cannot be determined. Thus, with one or a few atoms, scientists talk instead about lifetimes. In the mid-1960s, a physicist in the U.S. predicted that the next magic proton number above 82 would be 114, not 126, and that an atom with a doubly magic nucleus of 114 protons and 184 neutrons should be the peak of an island of stability. Russian scientists had come to the same conclusion at about the same time. In the years since, increasingly sophisticated computer models have indicated that element 114 would exhibit significant nuclear stability even with neutron numbers as low as 175. Note that element 114 is expected to lie in the same column (or ) of the periodic table as lead. The two elements are expected to share many properties.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 20 Elements 114 and 116 S&TR January/February 2002

(a) (b)

Dubna gas-filled recoil separator

Hydrogen gas media

Projectiles Beam of cations Position-sensitive Quadrupole frontal detector focusing (a) The Dubna gas-filled Time-of-flightdetector Magnetic separator uses a combination deflection of chemistry and to Side suppress the products of Rotating Recoil atom detector plutonium Stop unwanted reactions. (b) The target Start high-efficiency detector.

the experiment also undergo alpha products passing through the separator lifetime of 15.4 minutes, decayed to decay and fission, mimicking the decay and the radioactive decay of products element 110. Element 110, with a sequence of element 114. Trillions of that are already implanted in the lifetime of 1.6 minutes, then decayed these unwanted nuclei are produced detector. The flight time through the to element 108, which decayed by every day, whereas the expected counter is also used to discriminate . production rate for an element 114 between low- and high-Z products, In 2000 and 2001, the collaboration isotope was much less than one atom because heavier elements travel more performed three experiments in which a per day. To deal with the problem of slowly. The position-sensitive detector curium-284 target was bombarded with unwanted nuclei in earlier experiments, lowers the rate of background calcium-48 ions to create element 116. Dubna scientists had developed a gas- interference, allowing scientists to The team chose this combination of filled mass separator to separate identify and ignore unwanted products. isotopes because they would produce unwanted nuclei from the desired ones. During 40 days in November and isotopes of element 116 that should “It worked marvelously,” says Moody. December 1998, with ten-thousand decay to the previously observed Heavy-element reaction products trillion ions per of calcium-48 isotopes of element 114. recoil from the spinning plutonium bombarding the plutonium target, the Researchers produced the super- target wheel and enter the mass team observed the signals of just three heavy isotope 116-292 once in each separator, a chamber filled with low- spontaneous fission decays. Three of these experiments. They also pressure hydrogen gas confined synthesized compound nuclei had been created some other isotopes repeatedly. between the pole faces of a dipole created and passed through the Isotopes 114-288, 112-284, and 110-280 . The magnetic field is adjusted separator before fissioning. Two of have been found five times, lending so that, for the most part, only the them lasted about 1 millisecond each credibility to several experimental nuclei of interest pass through to the and proved to be products from the results. However, the first atom of detector array. decay of the of 114-289 with the 30.4- lifetime The desired nuclei are focused with americium-244. has yet to be replicated. a set of magnetic quadrupoles, pass Only one of the events involved an through a time-of-flight counter, and implant in the detector followed by In the Final Analysis are captured by a position-sensitive three alpha decays in the detector array. The recipe for element 114 on p. 22 detector. A signal from the time-of- This isotope of element 114 (114-289) refers to the analysis of 7 gigabytes of flight counter allows the team to had a lifetime of 30.4 seconds. It data from the first experiments. The distinguish between the effect of decayed to element 112, which, with a team has since accumulated another

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory S&TR January/February 2002 Elements 114 and 116 21

A Stormy Voyage to the Island of Stability

As of November 2001, scientists throughout the world had The field of synthesizing ever heavier elements went on synthesized 20 elements that do not exist in nature. The ones hiatus for several years until sophisticated new separation up to meitnerium (109) have been given official names. and detection methods were developed in the early 1980s Elements 110, 111, 112, 114, and 116 will not be named until in Germany. German researchers were then able to create their existence has been corroborated with several experiments and detect elements 107, 108, and 109 in experiments that or by several different groups. Recall that one of the have since been corroborated such that these synthetic fundamental tenets of science is reproducibility. elements now have names. They also created isotopes of In 1940, Ed McMillan and his team at Berkeley 110, 111, and 112, but these results have not yet been fully bombarded uranium with neutrons to create neptunium corroborated. (element 93). Then Glenn Seaborg and his colleagues created The German group, the Consortium for Heavy plutonium-238, the first isotope of plutonium (element 94), Research at Darmstadt, Germany, has produced an isotope of through the decay of neptunium-238, which they produced by element 112 that decayed into the same isotope of 110 that bombarding uranium with (heavy hydrogen). the Dubna–Livermore team found in 1994. This isotope had Elements 99 and 100 were discovered in the debris of the first the same energy and lifetime, which is encouraging hydrogen bomb test in 1952 from the simultaneous capture of validation. many neutrons by uranium. The heavy, highly radioactive The voyage to the island of stability has been a stormy uranium isotopes decayed quickly by beta emission down to one.It took until 1998 to even reach the beach. As shown in more stable isotopes of elements 99 (einsteinium) and 100 the figure below, the island’s peak is still tantalizingly just (fermium). Elements 95, 96, 97, 98, and 101 were created by out of reach. irradiating heavy nuclei with beams of alpha particles to boost the atomic numbers two steps at a time. 120 Beginning in the late 1950s, the new particle accelerators were capable of accelerating ions heavier than helium. Element 111414 First, ions of the lightest elements were Ð8 Ð9 directed at the heaviest elements. But it Element 111212 took excess energy to cause them to fuse, producing a very hot nucleus that tended to fission almost immediately. 110 Element 111010 Known as “hot fusion,” this method yielded elements 102 through 106 by Element 108 1974. Many of these experiments included Livermore scientists. Cold Hot In 1974, at the Joint fusion fusion Institute at Dubna found that if heavier ions are directed at lead and bismuth, 100 Heavy-ion less energy was needed to create new Proton number transfer elements. These two elements are extra- Neutron reactions capture stable, and thus the resulting compound and charged- nucleus has less energy and is more particle-induced likely to remain intact. This process is reactions known as “,” not to be confused with the discredited fusion energy process of the same name. Even 90 Element 114 in context—on the with cold fusion, so few nuclei of the beach of the island of stability. new element are produced during an experiment that existing detection techniques were not sensitive enough to 150 160 170 find them.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 22 Elements 114 and 116 S&TR January/February 2002

A schematic representation of number generator that backward from the planted fission event 289114 292114 the decay sequence of the places random fission for candidate alpha-decay chains that first atom of element 114, 30.4 seconds events into the real match actual decay chains and end with isotope 114-289. data throughout the a fission event. The number of returned 285 112 duration of the experiment. Nancy Stoyer “accidental” decay chains defines the 15.4 minutes developed the search code that sifted the probability that a decay sequence is data, including Monte Carlo–generated random. For the first atom of 281110 random fissions, for decay sequences element 114, the random probability similar to the 114-289 decay sequence was 0.6 percent. “If we eliminate decay 1.6 minutes that had been observed experimentally. chains in which all alpha events do not 277108 Because the actual decay chains end meet the Geiger–Nuttall relationship,” with a spontaneous-fission event, says Moody, “the random probability Spontaneous 16.5 minutes fission Nancy Stoyer’s search algorithm looks falls to 0.06 percent. That’s fantastic.”

23 gigabytes of data, all requiring extensive analysis to verify the times and of the alpha decays. Recipe for a New Element Valid decay sequences must fall within the alpha decay time and A Livermore chemist with a sense of humor developed this recipe to describe energy parameters of what is known the creation of element 114. as the Geiger–Nuttall relationship. Ingredients: Scientists at Livermore and Dubna • 2 grams calcium-48, a rare neutron-rich isotope of calcium. Out of every 100,000 atoms of calcium, only 187 atoms are analyzed the data in parallel. Livermore calcium-48. gave the Dubna institute a computer • 30 milligrams plutonium-244, the most neutron-rich, long-lived workstation for the Russian scientists isotope of plutonium. The world’s supply of this isotope is only to use on that mountain of information. 3 grams. Nuclear chemists John Wild and Nancy • The U400 cyclotron at Dubna, Russia, to accelerate calcium ions Stoyer analyzed the data at Livermore. to 10 percent the speed of light (236 megaelectronvolts). “These duel analyses were independent • A gas-filled recoil separator for removing unwanted but were calibrated. In the end, our reaction products. results agreed,” says Wild. • A position-sensitive detector for capturing decays of The team must also confirm that the reaction products. sequences they saw were not composed • 2 computers, one for data acquisition and another for data analysis. of random events. “The problem of • Numerous Russian technicians and accelerator operators. randomness is real, especially for long- • 19 Russian scientists. lived elements,” adds Wild. “The longer • 5 American scientists. the lifetime of a member of a decay Directions: Combine the first seven ingredients, using 0.3 milligrams per hour sequence, the greater the probability of calcium-48. Add lots of patience, a dash of luck, and a dollop of inspiration. that the decay could be random.” Simmer for about 6 months, 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. Use the last two A novel Monte Carlo method to ingredients to analyze 7 gigabytes of data for signature decay sequences of element estimate the probability of whether a 114. Garnish with several papers describing the results. was random or the real thing Serves: Very few. In two experiments, makes one atom of 114-289, the lifetime was the brainchild of nuclear chemist of which is 30 seconds, and two atoms of 114-288, each with a lifetime of 2 seconds. Mark Stoyer. It is a pseudo-random

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory S&TR January/February 2002 Elements 114 and 116 23

New Elements Still to Come Livermore researchers also want to The Livermore researchers are study the chemical properties of continuing its work to explore the elements 112 and 114. The southwest shores of the island of combination of chemical and nuclear stability. With funding from the properties defines the usefulness of any Laboratory Directed Research and . Most heavy elements exist in Development program, they have such small amounts, or for such short begun efforts to add elements 115 and times, that no one has pursued practical 113 to the periodic table. They are in applications for them. However, the process of sending 22 milligrams several heavy elements do have uses— of pure americium-243 to Dubna for americium is used in smoke detectors, the work on element 115. curium and californium are used for Current exploration of the island of neutron radiography and neutron stability, or its beaches, is limited to interrogation, and plutonium is stable targets and projectile beams. elemental in nuclear weapons. There exists no suitable combination Although elements 114 and 116 have of projectile and target to produce no immediate use, they do exist, and 114-298, the long-predicted highly more of them can be manufactured stable isotope. The isotopes 114-289 when uses for them are found. Adds and 114-288 require the most neutron- Moody, “Showing that the isotopes rich and calcium. of element 114 produced by the In the future, when radioactive beam collaboration have unique chemical accelerators are capable of producing properties will also provide proof that intense beams of even more neutron- they are indeed a new element.” rich isotopes, researchers may venture —Katie Walter farther toward the center of the island. For example, calcium-50 has a half-life of 14 seconds, far too short to gather Key Words: element 114, element 116, material together to put into a heavy elements, island of stability, Joint conventional ion source. However, Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, plans are for a radioactive beam facility Russia. to produce calcium-50 and accelerate it to energies required for the experiments For further information contact well before it can decay. Thus, an Ken Moody (925) 423-4585 isotope of element 114 with a mass of ([email protected]). 290 or 291, two neutrons closer to the center of the island, may well be possible. As scientists continue to explore for new elements, they expect that more spherical and longer-lived isotopes will be produced, which will most certainly require more sensitive detection schemes. Challenges abound.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory