Producing Dubnium with ⁵⁰Ti: The first step toward discovering new elements with the BGS

For many years, element discoveries have become synonymous with a ⁴⁸Ca beam on an actinide target. However, as we move towards discoveries of elements heavier than 118 we have to find new beam-target combinations and shift to beams of heavier proton numbers. At Berkeley Lab we investigate the use of ⁵⁰Ti as such an alternative.

As a first step in this development, we produced ⁵⁰Ti¹¹⁺ with the VENUS source and used it to make ²⁵⁷Db using the ⁵⁰Ti+²⁰⁹Bi fusion evaporation reaction in the Berkeley Gas-filled Separator (BGS). During the experiment, we were able to identify ²⁵⁷Db events through EVR-a-a coincidences and EVR-fission coincidences using our newly commissioned detector: the SuperHeavy RECoil detector (SHREC). As a second part in this experiment, we ramped our beam energy by 24 MeV and looked into the 3n, 4n and pxn channels of the ⁵⁰Ti+²⁰⁹Bi reaction. The results of this experiments and their impact on what we know about the relevant Dubnium and Rutherfordium isotopes will be presented.