Independent Verification of Element 114 Production in the 48Ca+242Pu Reaction

Independent verification of the production of element 114 in the reaction of 244-MeV Ca-48 with Pu-242 is presented. Two chains of time- and position-correlated decays have been assigned to (286)114 and (287)114. The observed decay modes, half-lives, and decay energies agree with published results. The measured cross sections at a center-of-target energy of 244 MeV for the (242)Pud(Ca-48; 3-4n)(287,286)114 reactions were 1.4(-1.2)(+3.2) pb each, which are lower than the reported values.