Studies of superheavy elements*

To date, superheavy elements (Z >103) have not been identified in nature. Rather, they are produced atom by atom in the laboratory through fusion-evaporation reactions. The heaviest known elements on the periodic table (Z = 114-118) were discovered using beams of ⁴⁸Ca impinged on radioactive actinide targets. Heavier elements are expected to exist, but due to a lack of available target material with Z > 98 new production mechanisms must be utilized. At the 88-inch cyclotron facility of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, preparations are underway to search for a new element with Z = 120 using the Berkeley Gas-filled Separator (BGS). A novel induction oven has been developed allowing for the facility to provide intense beams of ⁵⁰Ti and on the experimental side a new digital data acquisition system has been implemented alongside a new focal plane detector, the superheavy recoil (SHREC) detector, improving the overall detection sensitivity for rare events. In this talk I will provide an overview of the BGS and SHREC and give a status update on a E120 pre-cursor experiment to produce Lv ions using the ⁵⁰Ti + ²⁴⁴Pu reaction for the first time.