High-energy γ-rays in α-accompanied spontaneous fission of 252Cf

An experiment was performed on prompt γ-ray emission in binary and α-particle accompanied spontaneous fission of 252Cf using the Darmstadt-Heidelberg 4π NaI Crystal Ball spectrometer. The enhancement in γ-ray yield, denoted as the ''high-energy component'', which appears between 3.5 and 8 MeV and in the region of near-symmetric fragment mass splits, was observed to be equally pronounced in both fission modes. Analyzing the fragment mass dependence of the mean γ-ray multiplicity in both fission modes clearly identifies the disintegration of equilibrated fission fragments in a narrow mass range around the double-magic 132Sn as the source of these γ-rays. (orig.). With 4 figs