The experiments at PSI employ gas-jet techniques (Scheme) coupled to the On-Line Gas Chromatography Apparatus (OLGA) and recently, for the study of very volatile elements and compounds the In-situ Volatilization and On-line detection (IVO) system. The chemical separation has to be very efficient and selective.

    The developed detection systems must have the capabilities to measure life times and decay energies of alpha decaying and spontaneously fissioning nuclides. These requirements are fulfilled by sophisticated detection techniques: the PSI Tape System (PTS), the ROtating Wheel Multidetector Analyzer (ROMA) and recently the Cryo-On-Line Detector (COLD ).

    Model experiments are carried out in order to test the efficiency and velocity of developed chemical procedures. Therefore, the PSI Philips cyclotron and the ²⁵²Cf fission source “Miss Piggy” at Bern University (Miss Piggy ) are used to produce short-lived nuclides of elements, which are expected to behave homologous to the transactinides.

    The experiments and the interpretation of the results are supported by thermodynamic calculations of the stabilities, volatilities, and transport processes as well as by Monte Carlo simulations of the gas chromatographic process of single atoms.