Study of neutron-deficient isotopes of Fl in the 239 Pu, 240 Pu + 48 Ca reactions

The results of the experiments aimed at the synthesis of Fl isotopes in the 239Pu + 48Ca and 240Pu + 48Ca reactions are presented. The experiment was performed using the Dubna gas-filled recoil separator at the U400 cyclotron. In the 239Pu+48Ca experiment one decay of spontaneously fissioning 284Fl was detected at 245-MeV beam energy. In the 240Pu+48Ca experiment three decay chains of 285Fl were detected at 245 MeV and four decays were assigned to 284Fl at the higher 48Ca beam energy of 250 MeV. The α-decay energy of 285Fl was measured for the first time and decay properties of its descendants 281Cn, 277Ds, 273Hs, 269Sg, and 265Rf were determined more precisely. The cross section of the 239Pu(48Ca,3n)284Fl reaction was observed to be about 20 times lower than those predicted by theoretical models and 50 times less than the value measured in the 244Pu+48Ca reaction. The cross sections of the 240Pu(48Ca,4-3n)284,285Fl at both 48Ca energies are similar and exceed that observed in the reaction with lighter isotope 239Pu by a factor of 10. The decay properties of the synthesized nuclei and their production cross sections indicate rapid decrease of stability of superheavy nuclei with departing from the neutron number N=184 predicted to be the next magic number.