Heaviest nuclei from Ca-48-induced reactions

After a brief introduction of the role of shell effects in determining the limiting nuclear masses, the experimental investigation of the decay properties of the heaviest nuclei is presented. For the production of superheavy nuclides fusion, reactions of heavy actinide nuclei with Ca-48-projectiles have been used. The properties of the new nuclei, the isotopes of elements 112-118, as well as of their decay products, together with the known data for the light isotopes with Z <= 113, give evidence of the significant increase of the stability with the neutron number of the heavy nucleus. The obtained results are discussed in the context of the theoretical predictions about the 'island of stability' of the hypothetical superheavy elements.