The discovery of new transuranic elements and the role of the electron cyclotron resonance ion sources
Résumé
The recent successes in the production of superheavy (and near superheavy) elements have been made possible due to the availability of extremely high beam currents of heavy ions from electron cyclotron resonance ion sources (ECRIS). This letter points out the importance of the ECRIS in these recent exciting results and discusses the ion source features which have made this breakthrough possible.