Three decades ago, it was first recognized that the dynamics of heavy-ion reactions diverts a large fraction of the reaction cross section into the quasi-fission channel rather than the formation of a compound system that, via subsequent neutron evaporation, would lead to the synthesis of super-heavy elements. The result is that the cross section for formation of the heaviest elements is strongly suppressed relative to expectations based on simple fusion-evaporation models. In spite of these obstacles, however, the progress of synthesizing ever heavier elements has continued such that the periodic table now extends up to element number 118 thanks to a devoted effort by several groups worldwide.In this talk I'll review the experimental evidence for the quasi-fission process and discuss some of the theoretical progress in understanding the dynamics of the heavy-ion reactions and the competition between complete fusion and quasifission.This work was supported the US Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Physics under contract DE-AC02-06CH11357

Super-heavy element synthesis and the role of quasifission

247th National Meeting (2014)

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