Production of hafnium nuclides in the reactions of 6.3- to 24.6-MeV/nucleon 40Ar ions with natural tungsten

The yields of known hafnium isotopes produced in the reactions of 6.3- to 24.6-MeV/nucleon 40Ar ions with natural tungsten were determined by gamma ray spectroscopy following chemical separation. Excitation functions, average forward ranges, and isotope distributions were obtained. It was deduced that using intermediate-energy heavy ions the syntheses of new neutron-rich isotopes in the region A > 170 is possible. Use of thick targets or a series of multi-thin targets could increase the yields of new neutron-rich isotopes. Raising the projectile energy might not be helpful to synthesize such new neutron-rich isotopes due to possible increased backgrounds from neutron-deficient isotopes. (orig.)