AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF DOUBLE BETA DECAY OF [SUP]100 MO

New limits on half-lives for several double beta decay modes of /sup 100/Mo were obtained with a novel experimental system which included thin source films interleaved with a coaxial array of windowless silicon detectors. Segmentation and timing information allowed backgrounds originating in the films to be studied in some detail. Dummy films containing /sup 96/Mo were used to assess remaining backgrounds. With 0.1 mole years of /sup 100/Mo data collected, the lower half-life limits at 90% confidence were 2.7 /times/ 10/sup 18/ years for decay via the two-neutrino mode, 5.2 /times/10/sup 19/ years for decay with the emission of a Majoron, and 1.6 /times/ 10/sup 20/ years and 2.2 /times/ 10/sup 21/ years for neutrinoless 0/sup +/ ..-->.. 2/sup +/ and 0/sup +/ ..-->.. 0/sup +/ transitions, respectively. 50 refs., 38 figs., 11 tabs