The scientific programme of the laboratory includes experimental research in the synthesis and studies of nuclear physics and chemical properties of new superheavy elements, fusion and fission reactions and multi-nucleon transfer in heavy-ion collisions; studies of the properties of nuclei on the border of the nucleon stability and mechanisms of nuclear reactions with accelerated radioactive nuclei; studies of interaction of heavy ions with various materials (polymers, semiconductors, electronic components of space equipment, etc.).
Six new heavy elements with the atomic numbers 113–118 have been synthesised for the recent years, along with about 50 new isotopes of transactinoid elements. The existence of “the stability island” of superheavy elements with the centre near Z = 114 and N = 184 has been for the first time directly testified in experiments.
The year 2012 was marked with a significant event – the joint committee of the International Unions of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) officially acknowledged the priority of the Russian-American group of scientists in the discovery of new superheavy elements of the D. Mendeleev Table – 114 and 116 – at the accelerator complex of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions (LNR) of JINR. These elements are named flerovium – in honour of the laboratory and its founder Academician G. Flerov – and livermorium – in honour of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the city of Livermore (USA).
Another major historical achievement of the laboratory was the synthesis of the heaviest element to date, element 118, which completes the seventh period of the Periodic Table. It was officially named oganesson (Og) in honour of the Scientific Leader of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions (FLNR), Academician Yuri Tsolakovich Oganessian.
The studies of chemical properties of superheavy elements with Z = 112, 113 and 114 have been successfully developing. In particular, it was discovered that element 112 is a heavier homolog of Zn–Cd–Hg in its chemical properties, i.e. it is referred to group 12 of the D. Mendeleev Periodic Table.
Today, the flagship facility of the laboratory is the Superheavy Element (SHE) Factory — a unique complex based on the DC-280 high-current cyclotron. This accelerator, developed at FLNR as a part of the DRIBs-III project, is capable of delivering heavy-ion beams with an intensity of up to 60 trillion particles per second, which is 10 times higher than the performance of previous-generation facilities.
The key objectives of the SHE Factory include the synthesis of new superheavy elements and their isotopes, as well as the study of the nuclear and chemical properties of superheavy nuclei. Over the period of 2020–2025, more than 250 new events of superheavy nuclei synthesis were registered at the SHE Factory, including a whole range of previously unknown isotopes: 286Mc, 264Lr, 275Ds, 276Ds, 272Hs, 268Sg, 288,289Lv and 280Cn. In 2021, the Factory produced as many moscovium and flerovium nuclei as all the laboratories in the world had managed to synthesise over the entire preceding period of research.
The SHE Factory is equipped with modern experimental setups, including the DGFRS-II and GRAND gas-filled separators. To study the chemical properties of superheavy elements, a new experimental complex is being developed, which will comprise the GASSOL magnetic gas-filled separator, a cryogenic gas ion trap, and a new chemistry setup.
Applied research at FLNR is connected with studies in the field of nanotechnology, radiation resistance of materials, surface modification. Their further progress is connected to the development of a specialized hall equipped with modern devices for analysis and testing (the joint project of JINR and SC ROSNANO).
A special issue in applied research at FLNR is the construction of heavy ion accelerator complexes for industrial production of track membranes: the DC-60 cyclotron for Eurasian State University (Astana, Kazakhstan); the DC-110 cyclotron for the company NANOKASKAD in the Special Economic Zone “Dubna”. Over the last few years the amount of experiments on testing electronic components has considerably grown for the purposes of the Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos).
This research is conducted in wide international cooperation with JINR Member States and leading nuclear physics centres of the world.
