Reduced widths of alpha -decay of near-magic even-even nuclei

Precision on-line investigations on the linear heavy-ion Berkeley accelerator, and on the CERN synchrophasotron were carried out recently on new alpha -emitters. The results obtained are analysed with a view to finding the degree of correspondence, or disagreement, with the authors' own ideas about alpha -decay processes. The discussion is confined to examining even isotopes of polonium, radon, radium and thorium Several theoretical and experimental plots are given of reduced widths of alpha -disintegration for different regions of shell filling and a comparison is made between barrier penetration coefficients, obtained by rigorous methods and with the aid of WKB- approximation, for /sup 212/Po, /sup 208/Po and /sup 212/Po isotopes. (24 refs).