Decay of201–203Raand200–202Fr

Abstract

Decay properties of the neutron-deficient nuclides ${}^{201--203}\mathrm{Ra}$ and ${}^{200--202}\mathrm{Fr}$ were investigated using $\ensuremath{\alpha}$- and $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-decay spectroscopy. The nuclei were produced in fusion-evaporation reactions of ${}^{56}$Fe projectiles with enriched ${}^{147}$Sm and ${}^{149}$Sm targets at the velocity filter SHIP at GSI in Darmstadt (Germany). The $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ decay from the (3/2${}^{\ensuremath{-}}$) state in ${}^{201}$Ra was identified with an energy ${E}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}=7842(12)$ keV and half-life ${T}_{1/2}={8}_{\ensuremath{-}4}^{+40}$ ms. Ambiguous decay properties for ${}^{202}$Ra from previous measurements were clarified by remeasuring with significantly improved precision, resulting in values of ${E}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}=7722(7)$ keV and ${T}_{1/2}=3.{8}_{\ensuremath{-}0.8}^{+1.3}$ ms. New short-lived isomeric states were identified in ${}^{200}$Fr and ${}^{201}$Fr with half-lives of 0.6${}_{\ensuremath{-}0.2}^{+0.5}$ $\ensuremath{\mu}$s and 0.7${}_{\ensuremath{-}0.2}^{+0.5}$ $\ensuremath{\mu}$s, respectively. A tentative spin and parity of 13/2${}^{+}$ were assigned to the latter. One event attributed to $\ensuremath{\beta}$-delayed fission of ${}^{200}$Fr was observed.