The race to create new superheavy elements and isotopes

The creation of superheavy elements with atomic numbers 113 to 118 by nuclear fusion was officially confirmed in 2015. The race is now on to create elements 119 and 120, as their production and properties should pin down the location of the predicted superheavy Island of Stability. We recently discovered that 3-fragment quasifission is a major impediment to their formation. This project will combine Australian accelerator and detector capabilities with exotic radioactive targets to measure properties, probabilities and timescales of competing quasifission processes. Evaluation of their effect on the different nuclear reactions being proposed to form new superheavy elements will allow identification of the best reactions for their discovery.