Discovery of {sup 109}Xe and {sup 105}Te: Superallowed {alpha} Decay near Doubly Magic {sup 100}Sn

• Published in: Physical review letters 2006-08, Vol.97 (8)
• Main Authors: Liddick, S. N., Batchelder, J. C., Grzywacz, R., Bingham, C. R., Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, Mazzocchi, C., Drafta, G., Tantawy, M. N., Page, R. D., Darby, I. G., Joss, D. T., Thomson, J., Rykaczewski, K. P., Gross, C. J., Goodin, C., Hamilton, J. H., Hwang, J. K., Li, K., Hecht, A. A., Ilyushkin, S., Korgul, A., Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235, Institute of Experimental Physics, Warsaw University, Warsaw, PL 00-681, Joint Institute for Heavy-Ion Research, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ALPHA DECAY; EXCITED STATES; GROUND STATES; HALF-LIFE; IRON 54 TARGET; KEV RANGE 100-1000; MAGIC NUCLEI; MASS SPECTROMETERS; MEV RANGE 01-10; NEUTRONS; NICKEL 58 BEAMS; NICKEL 58 REACTIONS; NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; NUCLEOSYNTHESIS; RADIOACTIVE ION BEAMS; TELLURIUM 105; TIN 100; TIN 101; XENON 109
• ISSN: 0031-9007; 1079-7114
• DOI: 10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.97.082501

Two new {alpha} emitters {sup 109}Xe and {sup 105}Te were identified through the observation of the {sup 109}Xe{yields}{sup 105}Te{yields}{sup 101}Sn {alpha}-decay chain. The {sup 109}Xe nuclei were produced in the fusion-evaporation reaction {sup 54}Fe({sup 58}Ni,3n){sup 109}Xe and studied using the Recoil Mass Spectrometer at the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility. Two transitions at E{sub {alpha}}=4062{+-}7 keV and E{sub {alpha}}=3918{+-}9 keV were interpreted as the l=2 and l=0 transitions from the 7/2{sup +} ground state in {sup 109}Xe (T{sub 1/2}=13{+-}2 ms) to the 5/2{sup +} ground state and a 7/2{sup +} excited state, located at 150{+-}13 keV in {sup 105}Te. The observation of the subsequent decay of {sup 105}Te marks the discovery of the lightest known {alpha}-decaying nucleus. The measured transition energy E{sub {alpha}}=4703{+-}5 keV and half-life T{sub 1/2}=620{+-}70 ns were used to determine the reduced {alpha}-decay width {delta}{sup 2}. The ratio {delta}{sub {sup 105}Te}{sup 2}/{delta}{sub {sup 213}Po}{sup 2} of {approx}3 indicates a superallowed character of the {alpha} emission from {sup 105}Te.