Neutron emission as a function of fragment energy in the spontaneous fission of /sup 260/Md

We have made the first measurement of the number of neutrons emitted in the spontaneous fission of a nuclide in which very high fragment energies dominate the fission process. In bombardments of /sup 254/Es, we produced 28-d /sup 260/Md, which was neutron-counted in a 1-m-diam spherical tank containing a Gd-doped scintillator solution. The average number of neutrons emitted per fission is only 2.58 +- 0.11, substantially less than for other actinides. A direct correlation of neutron multiplicity with fragment excitation energy is clearly demonstrated. 3 refs., 5 figs.