The radioactive element astatine exists only in trace amounts in nature. Its properties can therefore only be explored by study of the minute quantities of artificially produced isotopes or by performing theoretical calculations. One of the most important properties influencing the chemical behaviour is the energy required to remove one electron from the valence shell, referred to as the ionization potential. Here we use laser spectroscopy to probe the optical spectrum of astatine near the ionization threshold. The observed series of Rydberg states enabled the first determination of the ionization potential of the astatine atom, 9.31751(8) eV. New ab initio calculations are performed to support the experimental result. The measured value serves as a benchmark for quantum chemistry calculations of the properties of astatine as well as for the theoretical prediction of the ionization potential of superheavy element 117, the heaviest homologue of astatine.

Low-energy β-delayed fission of 194,196 At and 200,202 Fr was studied in detail at the mass separator ISOLDE at CERN. The fission-fragment mass distributions of daughter nuclei 194,196 Po and 202 Rn indicate a triple-humped structure, marking the transition between asymmetric fission of 178,180 Hg and symmetric fission in the light Ra-Rn nuclei. Comparison with the macroscopic-microscopic finite-range liquid-drop model and the self-consistent approach employing the Gogny D1S energy density functional yields discrepancies. This demonstrates once more the need of dynamical fission calculations, as for both models the potential-energy surfaces lack pronounced structures, in contrast to the actinide region.Nuclear fission, the division of a heavy atomic nucleus into predominantly two parts, continues to provide new and unexpected features in spite of a long history of intensive theoretical and experimental studies [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. The fission process is not only important for several applications, such as energy production and radiopharmacology, but also has a direct impact on the understanding of the fission recycling process in r -process nucleosynthesis [8,9]. Therefore, a description of the fission process with reliable predictive power is needed, in particular for low-energy fission where the fission-fragment (FF) mass distributions are strongly * lars.ghys@fys.kuleuven.be sensitive to microscopic effects [4]. Mass distributions (MDs) are usually predominantly symmetric or asymmetric with the yields exhibiting a single peak or two distinct peaks, respectively. However, in several cases a mixture of two modes was observed [5]. Experimental observables characterizing various fission modes are the width of the MD peak(s), the position of these peaks in asymmetric mass division and total kinetic energy (TKE) of the FFs. The dominance of asymmetric fission in most of the actinide region beyond A = 226 up to about 256 Fm was attributed to strong microscopic effects of the heavier FF, near the doubly-magic 132 Sn [4,10,11]. However, nuclei such as 258 Fm and 259,260 Md exhibit complex MDs, each with a narrow and a broad symmetric component with a higher and lower TKE, respectively. 2This phenomenon is called bimodal fission [12][13][14][15]. Competition between symmetric and asymmetric fission, corresponding to respectively lower and higher TKE and resulting in a triple-humped MD has been reported around 226 Th [16][17][18]. These observations strongly support the hypothesis that nuclei may fission through several independent fission modes corresponding to different pre-scission shapes and fission paths in a multidimensional potential-energy landscape, referred to in literature as multimodal or multichannel fission [4,5,11,[16][17][18][19]. In the pre-actinide region, predominantly symmetric FF mass distributions were measured. A few relevant cases for the present discussion (see also Fig.1) are 195 Au, 198 Hg and 208,210 Po, studied by means of charged-particle induced reactions [20][21][22] and 204,206,...

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The low-energy structure of the neutron-rich nucleus 68 Ni has been investigated by measuring the β decay of the low-spin isomer in 68 Co selectively produced in the decay chain of 68 Mn. A revised level scheme has been built based on the clear identification of β-γ -E0 delayed coincidences. Transitions between the three lowest-lying 0 + and 2 + states are discussed on the basis of measured intensities or their upper limits for unobserved branches and state-of-the-art shell model calculations.

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