Neutron deficient mercury isotopes were produced in the reaction Ar-36
+ Sm-144 using bombarding energies of 180-230 MeV. Fusion products we
re separated in-flight from the primary beam using a gas-filled recoil
separator. An alpha line with the alpha particle energy and half-life
of (7069 +/- 11) keV and (2.1(-0.7)(+1.8)) ms, respectively, was assi
gned to the new mercury isotope Hg-174.