Production of ^287,288Mc isotopes in the ⁴⁸Ca + ²⁴³Am reaction at China Accelerator Facility for Superheavy Elements

Abstract We report the results of the experiment on synthesizing ^287,288Mc isotopes (Z = 115) using the fusion-evaporation reaction ²⁴³Am(⁴⁸Ca, 4n, 3n)^287,288Mc at the Spectrometer for Heavy Atoms and Nuclear Structure-2 (SHANS2), a gas-filled recoil separator located at the China Accelerator Facility for Superheavy Elements (CAFE2). In total, 20 decay chains are attributed to ²⁸⁸Mc and 1 decay chain is assigned to ²⁸⁷Mc. The measured α-decay properties of ^287,288Mc as well as its descendants are consistent with the known data. No additional decay chains originating from the 2n or 5n reaction channels were detected. The excitation function of the ²⁴³Am(⁴⁸Ca, 3n)²⁸⁸Mc reaction was measured at the cross-section level of picobarn, which indicates the promising capability for the study of heavy and superheavy nuclei at the facility.