Fabrication of isotopically enriched thin ¹⁹¹Ir targets on carbon backing for the study of fusion-fission dynamics

The study of fusion fission dynamics induced by heavy ions have been under investigation since past few decades. However these reactions are not yet fully understood, because of their complex nature. Evaporation residue (ER) emission is one of the dominant decay modes during the dynamical path of fusion process. The measurement of ER cross-sections have been used as an effective probe to study the dynamics of such reactions. In the present study of fusion-fission dynamics via ER cross-section measurements, we have formed compound nucleus ²¹⁰Rn through ¹⁹F + ¹⁹¹Ir reaction. The thin film fabrication (targets) in accordance to our experimental requirement is the very first step of the preparation. In the present work, the isotopic ¹⁹¹Ir targets were successfully fabricated in the target development laboratory at IUAC, New Delhi, India using the turbo pump based coating unit with a vacuum of the order of 10^-7 mbar. In this paper, we have reported the various steps followed to fabricate good quality enriched ¹⁹¹Ir targets on carbon backing