Superheavy elements articles within Nature Communications

Featured

• Article
  02 December 2023 | Open Access

  Colliding heavy nuclei take multiple identities on the path to fusion

  Superheavy nuclei are synthesized in the laboratory through the fusion of lighter nuclei. Here the authors study multinucleon transfer and interactions during the early stages of nuclear fusion in the collision of ⁴⁰Ca and ²⁰⁸Pb nuclei showing early onset of complexity.

  • Kaitlin J. Cook
  • , Dominic C. Rafferty
  •  & Suzana Szilner

• Article
  09 March 2020 | Open Access

  ²³³U/²³⁶U signature allows to distinguish environmental emissions of civil nuclear industry from weapons fallout

  The dominant emission sources of anthropogenic radionuclides come from either atmospheric nuclear weapons tests or the nuclear industry (i.e., reprocessing plants or reactor accidents). Here, the authors identify a new environmental isotope tracer (\(^{233}\)U/\(^{236}\)U) which can help distinguish emissions from nuclear weapons tests, and can also provide constraints on past weapon designs and fuel sources, for which many details remain classified or lost.

  • K. Hain
  • , P. Steier
  •  & A. Sakaguchi

• Article
  22 February 2017 | Open Access

  Towards high-resolution laser ionization spectroscopy of the heaviest elements in supersonic gas jet expansion

  It is challenging to explore properties of heavy elements as they can only be produced artificially. Here, the authors demonstrate a high resolution spectroscopy method, studying the properties of actinium, which can be extended to the study of other elements located at the end of the periodic table.

  • R. Ferrer
  • , A. Barzakh
  •  & A. Zadvornaya