Study of the properties of the superheavy nuclei Z = 117 produced in the

The reaction of 249Bk with 48Ca have been reinvestigated to provide new evidence for the discovery of element 117 on a larger number of events. The experiments were performed at five projectile energies and with a total beam dose of 48Ca of about 4.6×1019. Two isotopes 293,294117 were synthesized in the 249Bk+48Ca reaction, providing excitation functions and α-decay spectra of the produced isotopes that establishes these nuclei to be the products of the 4n- and 3n-evaporation channels, respectively. Decay properties of 293,294117 and of all the daughter products agree with the data of the experiment in which these nuclei were synthesized for the first time in 2010. The new 289115 events, populated by α decay of 293117, demonstrate the same decay properties as those observed for 289115 produced in the 243Am(48Ca,2n) reaction thus providing crossbombardment evidence. In addition, a single decay of 294118 was observed from the reaction with 249Cf – a result of the in-growth of 249Cf in the 249Bk target