Ternary α and triton emission in the spontaneous fission of 244Cm, 246Cm and 248Cm and in the neutron induced fission of 243Cm, 245Cm and 247Cm

The emission probabilities and the energy distributions of tritons and alpha particles emitted in the spontaneous ternary fission (zero excitation energy) of Cm-244, Cm-246 and Cm-248 and in the cold neutron induced fission (excitation energy approximate to 6.5 MeV) of Cm-243, Cm-245 and Cm-247 are determined. The particle identification was done with suited Delta E-E telescope detectors, at the IRMM (Geel, Belgium) for the spontaneous fission and at the ILL (Grenoble, France) for the neutron induced fission measurements. Hence particle emission characteristics of the fissioning systems Cm-244, Cm-246 and Cm-248 are obtained at zero excitation energy and at an excitation energy around 6.5 MeV. Whilst the triton emission probability is hardly influenced by the excitation energy, the He-4 emission probability in spontaneous fission is about 20% higher than for neutron induced fission.. This could be explained by the influence of the cluster preformation probability on the ternary alpha emission. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.