Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: Dr. Rodney Orford, LBNL

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) has a rich history of element discovery dating back to the late 1930s with the first production of technetium, followed by a few decades of new actinide and superheavy element additions to the periodic table. To date, elements up to Z = 118 have been discovered worldwide, the heaviest of which were produced from the fusion of actinide targets with intense beams of 48Ca ions. Even heavier elements are predicted to exist, however, finding them will require new target-beam combinations, more sensitive detector systems, and a lot of patience. At the 88-inch cyclotron facility of LBNL, the Berkeley Gas-filled Separator (BGS) and the FIONA apparatus are used to study the fundamental properties of rare heavy and superheavy nuclei produced through fusion-evaporation reactions. Following the recent installation of the new SuperHeavy Recoil detector (SHREC) at the BGS focal plane, plans to pursue a search for Element 120 using the 50Ti + 249Cf reaction are underway. Alongside an overview of our broader heavy element experimental program, I will present an outlook for this potential element discovery campaign highlighting some milestone experiments utilizing 50Ti beams over the past year.