Background: Observation of asymmetric fission of 180Hg has led to intensive theoretical and experimental studies of fission of neutron-deficient nuclei in the lead region.

Purpose: The study of asymmetric and symmetric fission modes of 180,190Hg and 184,192,202Pb nuclei.

Methods: Mass-energy distributions of fission fragments of 180,190Hg and 184Pb formed in the 36Ar+144,154Sm and 40Ca+144Sm reactions, respectively, at energies near the Coulomb barrier have been measured using the double-arm time-of-flight spectrometer CORSET and compared with previously measured 192,202Pb isotopes produced in the 48Ca+144,154Sm reactions. The mass distributions for 180,190Hg and 184,192,202Pb together with old data for 187Ir, 195Au, 198Hg, 201Tl, 205,207Bi, 210Po, and 213At [J. Nucl. Phys. 53, 1225 (1991)] have been decomposed into symmetric and asymmetric fission modes. The total kinetic-energy distributions for different fission fragment mass regions have been analyzed for 180,190Hg and 184Pb.

Results: The stabilization role of proton numbers at Z≈36, 38, Z≈45, 46, and Z=28/50 in asymmetric fission of excited preactinide nuclei has been observed. The high (≈145−MeV) and the low (≈128−MeV) energy components have been found in the total kinetic-energy distributions of 180,190Hg fission fragments corresponding to the fragments with proton numbers near Z≈46 and Z≈36, respectively. In the case of fission of 184Pb only the low-energy component (≈135MeV) for the fragments with masses corresponding to the proton numbers Z≈36 and 46 has been found.

Conclusions: The studied properties of asymmetric fission of 180,190Hg and 184,192,202Pb nuclei point out the existence of well deformed proton shell at Z≈36 and less deformed proton shell at Z≈46.