Fission isomer studies with advanced experimental facilities and detection systems

Abstract

The ‘island’ of fission isomers identified in the actinide region (Z = 92 - 97, N = 141- 151) originates from multi-humped fission barriers. Fission isomers are superdeformed and with a low spin representing one of the extremes of the nuclear landscape. However, only scarce experimental information was gained from experiments performed more than 20 years ago. The advances in experimental facilities and detection systems allow us to revive the experimental activities on fission isomer studies. For example, producing fission isomers in ^240,242Am and measuring their delayed fission have been achieved at the IGISOL facility in Jyväskylä. Exploring the production of fission isomers in the U-Np region with ²³⁸U fragmentation is ongoing at GSI, Darmstadt. This paper reviews fission isomers in ^235,236U and ^240,242Am, which are being re-visited.