Bimodal fission of Hs

Mass and energy distributions of fission fragments obtained in the reactions 22Ne + 249Cf, 26Mg + 248Cm, and 22Ne + 238U have been measured. A special attention will be paid on the properties of mass-energy distribution of fission fragments obtained in the reaction 26Mg + 248Cm at an excitation energy of 35 MeV. At this energy shell effects should become more effective in fission, the TKE distribution of symmetric fragments obtained in the reaction 26Mg + 248Cm differs strongly from a Gaussian shape. Besides a low-energy component, a high-energy component, not foreseen in the LDM, arises. This is attributed to the fact that both fission fragments are close to the spherical neutron shell N 82. It means that for the compound nucleus 274Hs*, formed in the reaction 26Mg + 248Cm, the phenomenon of bimodal fission was observed for the first time. For the compound nucleus 260No* formed in the reaction 22Ne + 238U at the initial excitation energy of 41 MeV the bimodal fission as well as superasymmetric fission were observed.