Spectroscopy of very heavy nuclei with a view to study super-heavy nuclei

Within the recent years, the spectroscopic study of single particle orbitals of very heavy elements (VHE) has become possible with the development of increasingly efficient experimental setups. This allows us, through nuclear deformation, to access with these deformed nuclei to orbitals situated around the Fermi level in the spherical superheavy elements (SHE) and learn more about the nuclear structure of these nuclei. The aim of this work is the spectroscopic studies of heavy and very heavy elements. Because of the experimental difficulties associated with the fusion reactions in the VHE region, a detailed optimization studies is essential. Simulation of energy loss and angular straggling of these nuclei due to the interaction in the target and to neutron's evaporation was carried out and allowed us to optimize the angular acceptance of the separators according to the target thickness. An extensive survey and exploration in the VHE region was also conducted on the basis of cross section's systematics in the literature and simulations carried out using the statistical code Hivap. In this framework, the possible extension of the range of validity of a set of Hivap parameters was investigated. This work has enabled us to prepare a list of experiments of interest for the production of very heavy nuclei. In this thesis, our work was concentrated on the spectroscopy of the nuclei No256 et Rf256 for which two experimental proposals were accepted. The octupole deformations predicted in the actinides region is studied in another part of this thesis, a part witch is dedicated to the gamma spectroscopy of Pa223. The data from a new experiment carried out using the Jurogam-Ritu-Great setup are analysed and compared to previous results. They confirm the octupole deformed shape in this nucleus. (author)