Cold and hot binary and ternary fission yields in the spontaneous fission of 252Cf

The spontaneous fission (SF) of ²⁵²Cf has been studied via γ-γ-γ coincidence and light charged particle—γ-γ coincidence with Gammasphere. The yields of correlated Mo-Ba pairs in binary fission with 0–10 neutron emission have been remeasured with an uncompressed cube. The previous hot fission mode with 8–10 neutron emission seen in the Mo-Ba split is found to be smaller than earlier results but still present. New 0n binary SF yields are reported. By gating on the light charged particles detected in ΔE-E detectors and γ-γ coincidence with Gammasphere, the relative yields of correlated pairs in alpha ternary fission with zero to 6n emission are observed for the first time. The peak occurs around the α2n channel. A number of correlated pairs are identified in ternary fission with ¹⁰Be as the light charged particle. We observed only cold, 0n ¹⁰Be and little, if any, hot, xn ¹⁰Be channels.     

Experiment aimed at the study of 252Cf binary and ternary fission

A new experiment devoted to the fission of ²⁵²Cf is described. It continued a series of our experiments based on correlation measurements of γ rays emitted by fission fragment pairs. The measurements of γ-γ and γ-γ-γ coincidences were done at Gammasphere with closed ²⁵²Cf sources. The open source was used for the first time in the last experiment. Fission fragment detectors were arranged in the center hole of Gammasphere. Correlations between fission fragment masses, total kinetic energy, and γ rays were observed. The first, preliminary results of data analysis are discussed. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Multiplicity distribution of prompt gamma rays in spontaneous ternary fission of252Cf

The first and the second moments of the multiplicity distribution of prompt gamma rays in spontaneous ternary fission of²⁵²Cf have been measured by the multiple coincidence technique. While both these moments were found to be nearly independent of the energy of the light charged particle accompanying the fission fragments, the width of the multiplicity distribution was larger than that in the case of normal binary fission by about 20%.     

Recent experimental studies on 252Cf ternary fission

The rare ternary fission (TF) process was hitherto studied mainly by inclusive measurements of the energies and fractional yields of the light charged particles (LCPs) from fission, or by experiments on the angular and energy correlation between LCPs and fission fragments (FF). The present article briefly describes a series of recent correlation measurements on ²⁵²Cf(sf) TF that include either the registration of neutrons and γ rays with LCPs and FFs, or the coincident registration of two LCPs. The population of excited states in LCPs has been identified, as well as the formation of neutron-unstable nuclei as short-lived intermediated LCPs, the sequential decay of particle-unstable LCP species into charged particle pairs, and “quaternary” fission with the emission of two charged particles right at scission.     

High-energy gamma-rays accompanying the spontaneous fission of252Cf

Theγ-ray spectrum of²⁵²Cf(sf) was measured in the Darmstadt-Heidelberg Crystal Ball spectrometer, with a double ionization chamber mounted inside to detect the fission fragments. The measurement was aimed at a better understanding of an unusual component found in the high-energy region between 3 and 8 MeV, with fragment mass splits near symmetry. This component was proved to be predominantly emitted by the heavier fragment, to reach its highest intensity at a fragment mass split of 132:120, and to have an almost isotropic angular distribution. Calculations with the statistical code CASCADE could reproduce the main features.     

High-energy gamma-rays accompanying the spontaneous fission of 252Cf

The γ-ray spectrum of ²⁵²Cf(sf) was measured in the Darmstadt-Heidelberg Crystal Ball spectrometer, with a double ionization chamber mounted inside to detect the fission fragments. The measurement was aimed at a better understanding of an unusual component found in the high-energy region between 3 and 8 MeV, with fragment mass splits near symmetry. This component was proved to be predominantly emitted by the heavier fragment, to reach its highest intensity at a fragment mass split of 132:120, and to have an almost isotropic angular distribution. Calculations with the statistical code CASCADE could reproduce the main features.     

Study of the Mo-Ba partition in 252Cf spontaneous fission

Measurements of fission fragment yields and neutron multiplicities have been carried out for the Mo-Ba fragment pairs in the spontaneous fission of ²⁵²Cf, using the γ-ray spectroscopy technique to analyze γ-γ-γ coincidence data. Prompt γ -ray multiplicities were also measured as a function of the number of neutrons emitted in the fission process leading to the Mo-Ba partition. We do not observe the enhancement in the yields of events with high neutron emission multiplicity (ν_n > 7) that has been associated to a second fission mode leading to the production of hyperdeformed Ba fragments, as reported in some earlier studies. The average γ-ray multiplicity is found to be rather weakly dependent on the number of neutrons emitted in the fission process. Received: 21 July 1999 / Revised version: 19 November 1999     

On symmetric tripartition in the spontaneous fission of 252Cf

Angular and energy distributions of ternary fission products of ²⁵²Cf have been measured with a position sensitive ionization chamber. Most of the observed triple coincidences are light-charged-particle accompanied fission events. The few events registered with relative angles near 120° allow to deduce an upper limit of 10⁻⁸ per binary fission for a symmetric ternary fragmentation, in contradiction to previous counting experiments yielding ternary-to-binary fission ratios between 10⁻⁴ and 10⁻⁶.     

Prompt gamma ray multiplicity distributions in spontaneous fission of252Cf

The shape parameters of the multiplicity distribution of prompt gamma rays emitted in spontaneous fission of²⁵²Cf were obtained using the multiple coincidence technique. The multiplicity distribution is well represented by a Gaussian distribution. Assuming the average number of prompt gamma rays emitted per fission to be 10.3, the standard deviation of the multiplicity distribution was estimated to be 4.2±0.4. The variation of the standard deviation of the multiplicity distribution has also been obtained as a function of kinetic energy of one of the fragments and was found to exhibit a strong zigzag dependence on the single fragment kinetic energy. The results have been discussed on the basis of the emission mechanism of prompt gamma rays in fission.     

Element yields in 252Cf spontaneous fission determined from measured X-ray multiplicities

The prompt element yields for ²⁵²Cf spontaneous fission were obtained from measurements of coincident multiple K X-rays. A model for X-ray emission was fitted to the rates at which various X-ray multiplicities were detected. An odd-even effect of (5 ± 4)% in the element yields was observed.     

Role of energy cost in the yield of cold ternary fission of 252 Cf

The energy costs in the cold ternary fission of ²⁵²Cf for various light charged particle emission are calculated by including Wong’s correction for Coulomb potential. Energy cost is found to be higher in cold fission than in normal fission. It is found that energy cost always increases with decrease in experimental yield in all the light charged particle emissions. The higher ground state deformation of the fragments, the odd–even effect and the enhanced yield in the octupole region observed in cold fission are found to be consistent with the concept of energy cost.     

New data on the ternary fission of 252Cf from the Gammasphere facility

Ternary fission of ²⁵²Cf was studied at Gammasphere using eight ΔE×E particle telescopes. Helium, beryllium, boron, and carbon light charged particles (LCPs) emitted with kinetic energy more than 9, 21, 26, and 32 MeV, respectively, were identified. The 3368-keV γ transition from the first 2⁺ excited state in ¹⁰Be was found and the population probability ratio N(2⁺)/N(0⁺) = 0.160 ± 0.025 was estimated. No evidence was found for 3368-keV γ rays emitted from a triple molecular state. For the first time, charge distributions are obtained for ternary fission fragments emitted with helium, beryllium, and carbon LCPs.     

New isomeric states in 152,154,156Nd produced by spontaneous fission of 252Cf

Isomeric states have been observed in fission-fragments produced by spontaneous fission of ²⁵²Cf. These states are found in neutron rich nuclei of different structure and deformations. About 50 isomeric nuclei have been observed using coincidences between γ-rays identified in EUROGAM II and fission fragments detected in photovoltaic cells (SAPhIR). Lifetimes in the range from 20 ns to 2μs have been measured. Presented calculations based on HFB +D1S force on new measured isomeric states in the ^152,154,156Nd show evidence for K-isomers. Received: 3 November 1997 / Revised version: 15 December 1997     

Spontaneous ternary fission of 252Cf: New experiment with GSI super clover detectors

A new multiparameter experiment on ternary fission of ²⁵²Cf has recently been successfully performed by using the CODIS2 detector system and two GSI segmented Super Clover Ge γ-ray detectors. The experimental setup and the main subjects of interest are briefly described.     

Light charged particle release in252Cf spontaneous fission: Tripartition versus fragment de-excitation

Double-differential emission probabilities P (E, θ) in angle θ and energy E of protons, tritons, and α-particles were measured in the case of spontaneous fission of²⁵²Cf. A detector system consisting of position-sensitive parallel-plate avalanche counters (PPAC) and ΔE?E-telescopes allowed a coincidence measurement of fission fragments (FF) and light charged particles (LCP) in the whole region from 0 deg. to 180 deg. with respect to the light-fragment direction. Previous results for α-particle emission were confirmed. The background contributions for protons are discussed in detail. For proton emission the background arising from (n, p)-reactions was measured and compared with a corresponding Monte-Carlo simulation of elastic (n, p)-clusions. Unlike for tritons and a-particles the P (E, θ) distribution for protons does not show equatorial peaking in 0 between 80 deg. and 90 deg. and contradicts classical scission point emission. The proton distribution, however, agrees with fragment de-excitation calculations in the framework of the cascade evaporation model (CEM) whereas an analogous calculation forα-particles completely fails. Upper limits for an additional scission component of proton emission are given.     

Statistical properties of deexcitation of fragments originating from the spontaneous fission of 252Cf

A method of parametrizing radiative strength functions for electric dipole transitions is used to calculate the spectra of photons emitted by fragments originating from the spontaneous fission of ²⁵²Cf nuclei. The LDPL-98 library of parameters, which contains data for 2000 nuclei, is composed for performing relevant calculations. It is shown that the use of this method leads to regular agreement with experimental data—that the structure and the energy dependence of the spectra are reproduced without varying parameters suggests a statistical character of fission-fragment deexcitation.     

Angular momenta of fission fragments in the α-accompanied fission of 252Cf

For the first time, average angular momenta of the ternary fission fragments ^{100, 102}Zr, ¹⁰⁶Mo, ^{144, 146}Ba and ^{138, 140, 142}Xe from the α-accompanied fission of ²⁵²Cf were obtained from relative intensities of prompt γ-ray transitions with the use of the statistical model calculation. Average values of the angular momenta were compared with the corresponding values for the same fission fragments from the binary fission of ²⁵²Cf. Results indicate the presence of a decreasing trend in the average values of angular momenta induced in ternary fission fragments compared to the same binary fission fragments. On the average, the total angular momentum extracted for ternary fission fragments is ∼1.4 ℏ lower than in binary fission. Consequently, results indicate that the mechanism of the ternary α-particles emission may directly effect an induction of angular momenta of fission fragments, and possible scenarios of such mechanisms are discussed. Further, the dependence of the angular momenta of ¹⁰⁶Mo and ¹⁴⁰Xe on the number of emitted neutrons from correlated pairs of primary fragments was obtained also showing a decreasing dependence of average angular momenta with increasing number of emitted neutrons. Consequences are briefly discussed.