Spontaneous fission in actinides and heavy elements: A semiclassical view

The systematics of spontaneous fission in actinides and heavy elements are investigated within the framework of the semiclassical quantization. The interaction barrier is calculated by using the asymmetric two-centre shell model and its appropriate parameterization generates the analytical expression for the tunneling probability. The powerful semiclassical quantization technique lifts the degeneracy between the degenerate levels just after tunneling across the barrier. Our results clearly show that dissipation enhances the tunneling rate. It has also been seen that the sub-barrier fission from the excited state is a slow process. An appropriate condition for the fission isomeric state is also pointed out. The survival probability of heavy elements is a remarkable outcome of our model. We have tested our model for nuclei ₉₂ ²³⁶U , ₉₈ ²⁵²Cf , ₁₀₀ ²⁵⁴Fm and ₁₀₂ ²⁵²No .