Mass distribution of the 252Cf fission fragments

The radiochemical method is used to measure the mass distributions of fission fragments of 252Cf for various excitation energies. The 252Cf nucleus was obtained by bombarding 248Cm with α particles. At α particle energies of 24, 29 and 34 MeV the fission of 252Cf remains asymmetric with a mass half-peak width of 22, 25 and 28 mass units and a peak/trough ratio of 3.5, 2.0 and 1.7, respectively. The variation in the mass distribution of 252Cf with increasing excitation energy is not in line with the expected statistical fission model results. (author)