Calculations of the cross sections for the synthesis of new 293-296118 isotopes in 249-252Cf(48Ca,xn) reactions

A project of using a target consisting of the mixture of Cf249-252 isotopes to be bombarded with the Ca-48 beam, aimed at synthesizing new isotopes of the heaviest known element Z = 118, is under way at the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions in Dubna, Russia. In the present work excitation functions for all the reactions Cf-249(Ca-48,xn)(297-x)118, Cf-250(Ca-48,xn)(298-x)118, Cf-251(Ca-48,xn)(299-x)118 and Cf-252(Ca-48,xn)(300-x)118 have been calculated in the framework of the fusion-by-diffusion model, assuming fission barriers, ground-state masses, and shell effects of the superheavy nuclei predicted by Kowal et al. Energy dependence of the effective cross sections for the synthesis of the selected new isotopes (293)118, (294)118, (295)118, and (296)118 is predicted for the particular isotopic composition of the Cf target prepared for the Dubna experiment.