Independent Verification of Element 114 Production in the Ca-48 + Pu-242 Reaction

Independent verification of the production of element 114 in the reaction of 244-MeV {sup 48}Ca with {sup 242}Pu is presented. Two chains of time- and position-correlated decays have been assigned to {sup 286}114 and {sup 287}114. The observed decay modes, half-lives, and decay energies agree with published results. The measured cross sections at a center-of-target energy of 244 MeV for the {sup 242}Pu({sup 48}Ca,3-4n){sup 287,286}114 reactions were 1.4{sub -1.2}{sup +3.2} pb each, which are lower than the reported values.