Actinides and transactinides

Nagame, Yuichiro* ; Sato, Tetsuya   ; Kratz, J. V.*

This article gives a brief summary of the recent progress in the synthesis of new elements as well as heavy nuclei far from the stability line and in the studies of exotic nuclear decay properties including nuclear fission of heavy nuclei and chemical characterization of heavy actinides and transactinides. Experimental techniques of single-atom detection after in-flight separation with electromagnetic separators have made a breakthrough in discovery of new heavy isotopes. Development of automated rapid chemical separation apparatuses performing one atom-at-a-time chemistry has also considerably contributed to the progress of chemical studies of the transactinides. Some key experiments exploring new frontiers of the production and chemical characterization of heavy actinides and transactinides using state-of-the-art techniques are demonstrated. A short historical perspective of actinide and transactinide elements and some prospects of extending nuclear and chemical studies of heavy elements in the future are briefly presented.