α -decay chain of the short-lived isotope Pa220 established using a digital pulse processing technique

The decay properties of the short-lived isotope Pa-220 were re-investigated via the reaction Ar-40 + Re-187 at the gas-filled recoil separator Spectrometer for Heavy Atoms and Nuclear Structure. The digital pulse processing technique was applied to resolve the evaporation residues-alpha (ER-alpha) pileup signals in the decay of Pa-220. The alpha-decay chain of Pa-220 leading to the well-known Ac-216 isotope was established for the first time. The alpha energy and half-life were measured to be E-alpha = 9.520(16) MeV and T-1/2 = 0.90(13) mu s, respectively. The spin parity of the ground state of Pa-220 was assigned to be 1-, based on the reduced alpha-decay width.