Spontaneous fission properties of sub 103 sup 259 Lr

We have measured the mass and kinetic-energy distributions of fragments from the spontaneous fission of {sup 259}Lr. The {sup 259}Lr was produced via the {sup 248}Cm ({sup 15}N,4{ital n}) reaction with a production cross section of 100 nb using 81-MeV projectiles. The kinetic energies and times of the alpha particles and coincident fission fragments were measured using our rotating wheel system. From these data the half-life, mass, and kinetic-energy distributions were derived. The total kinetic-energy (TKE) distribution appears to consist of a single component with a most probable pre-neutron-emission TKE of 215{plus minus}3 MeV. The mass distribution is predominantly symmetric with a full width at half maximum of about 20 mass numbers. These results are consistent with trends observed for other trans-berkelium spontaneously fissioning isotopes. We determined the half-life to be 6.14{plus minus}0.36 s by measuring its alpha decay and the observed spontaneous fission half-life was consistent with that value. An energy of 8.439{plus minus}0.010 MeV was measured for the main alpha transition of {sup 259}Lr. We measured a spontaneous fission to alpha-decay ratio of 0.25{plus minus}0.03 which results in a partial half-life for spontaneous fission of 31{plus minus}4 s, if there are no other appreciable modes of decay.