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1. I~trodoction
The behaviour of rotational nuclei at high spin values has excited much intes~est
since it was discovered by Johnson et al. 1) in 1971 that the excitations of the lowest
energy states in the J" ~ I4t-18 * region in some rare earth nuclei departeddramati-
cally from the predictions of the simple rotational model. In the intervening years
many further experimental studies have boea made, and it is now established that
this is a rather general property of the yeast states of rare earth nuclei . The experi-
mental data has been fully reviewed by Johnson and Szymsnski ~) and more recently
by Ward 3).
The effect, commonly referrod to as backbending, is associated with a sudden in-
crease in the effective moment of inertia of the nucleus. However, the nature of the
change which occurs in the intrinsic structure of the nucleus is uncertain. At one
extreme it could simply be due to the crossing of two virtually independent bands
with different intrinsic structures and different moments of inertia. Most of the ex-
perimental results on tho effect have been obtained through (HI, xn) reactions, sad,
t Present address : Dept . of Nuclear Physks, Itaat+ch school oP P)tysical sciences, AuatraHan
National Uaivazsity, Canberra, w~ .r. .it.
tt Present address : Gj~cbtron Lbwstory, The Institute of Phydcal and Chemical Research, Saitama.
Japan .
109
110 F. REARNS et aG
as has been pointed out by Ward et al. 3), the reaction mechanism together with the
strong Es dependence of electric quadrupole transitions strongly favours the popu-
lation of the yrast states . Experimental evidence in favour of simple band crossing
has been found in the cases of 1s~Gd, is~Dy and issDy [refs. 4-6)] . ether explana-
tions ofbackhanding involve some sort of phase change in the intrinsic structure at a
certain critical angular momentum. Examples of this are the oriolis anti-pairing
effect (CAP) originallyproposed by Mottelson and Valatin'), and the rotational
alignment effect proposed by Stephens and Simon 8). Recent calculations by Faessler
et al. 9) suggest that both these effects could be involved .
The main difficulty in interpreting the backhanding phenomenon arises from the
paucity ofexperimental information. Tn most cases only the energy levels of the yrast
sequtnce are known. Ideally one would like to know the first few energy levels for
each spin value up to high spins (J z 20), their magnetic dipole and electric quadru-
pole moments and their electromagnetic transition probabilities. The difficulties
involved in establishing any but the yrast states for high spin values have already
been mentioned. Similarly, present experimental techniques are not adequate for the
measurement ofmagnetic dipole and electric quadrupole moments at these high spins.
However, the well established Doppler lineshape analysis and Doppler recoil method
:for lifetime determinations can be pplied, and, as these states decay by simple E2
,cascades, the corresponding B(E2) values can be deduced. .
Relatively few measurements of B(E2) values for states with I` > 10+ have been
reported in the fiteratuie. irimitations associated with the two currently available
methods of exciting the states are primarily responsible for this. A substantial feeding
time, typically up to 10 ps, is associated with the (HI, xn) reaction . This imposes a
severe limitation on the accuracy with which lifetimes of around 1 ps can be .deter-
mined. In the only measurement of this type so far reported, Ward et o1. 1 ) used the
Doppler z'ecoil method to determine lifetimes of states up to the 1" = 18+ member.
The results were consistent with the simple rotational model pieditions, although
the errors were as high as 30 %. This feeding time problem is largely eliminated in
Coulomb excitation . If multiple Coulomb excitation was sufficiently selective to
excite the state of interest only, no feeding effects would exist: In practice, higher
states are also excited, but the feeding times associated with these paths are small, and
in the region of interest, the excitation falls off rapidly for tho higher sttes . As a
result, the necessary corrections are small and straightforward to apply. In the past,
using projectiles of ~ 5 20, states with I` > lOt have only been weakly excited and
it has not, in the main, proved possible to measure lifetimes ofthese states . Neverthe-
less, Hagemann et al. 11 ), using a 4Ar beam, have reported a measurement of B(E2)
for the decay of the 12+ state in i s4Dy. which is again close to the rotational pre-
diction.
In this paper we report on measurements of the B(E2) values for the 12+ ~ 10+,
10{ -. 8 + and 8.+ -. 6+ transitions in some fourteen rare earth doubly even nuclei,
and also for one I4+ ~ 12+ transition . The nuclei in question have been Coulomb
1rIF1?El'IMB4 111
excited using the ' 6Fe and a~Kr beams available on the Manchester HILAC and tha
lifetimes determined using a Doppler lineshape technique . The Doppler recoil
method has beta applied to one target nudtus as a check on the . absolute normal-
isation ofthe lineshape technique. Lifetimes aad B(132) values for some of the nuclei
studied hire have been reported previously is), but improvements in analysis tech-
niques since then have resulted in-some changes to the values .
2. Experh~l sefhods
21 . 3IN(iLE3 LINS4HAPB M13A3UREM13NTS
Doublytvtntargetnudeiwere Coulombexcited bybombardmentwith beamsof' 6Fe
and 4Kr ions of energy 4.14 MeV/nucleon obtained from the University of Man-
chester HII.AC. The metallic targets used were prepared from isotopically enriched
oxides by a reduction process and wero thick enough to stop the recoilingioas ( ~ 50
~ . cm-~),
Do-excitation y-rays were observed in singles with Ge(Li) dotectors placed at 0
and 90 with respect to tho beam direction: The detector at 90 was used to make
precise dttarminations of the energies of the transitions. The 0 detector was a trot
co-axial fie(Li) of70 cm3 detector volume with an energy resolution(FWHM) of3 keY
at 1274.5 keY; a typical spoctrtun obtained by bombarding iso~, ~~ s4~. ~
shown in fig. la. Transitions up to the 12t -" 10+ member of the ground-state band
~r
i~
Fib. 1. Coulomb acdtation spectra observed at 0, obtained by bombardment of 1soDy with 4.14
McV/nucleon Kr ions (e) in and (b) in ooincid~ce with back~cattered Rr ions . Random
ooincldonce have bean subtracted is (b).
12 F. KBARNS u aL
(gab) of the target nucleus are clearly seen, and it is apparent that the higher energy
members possess a Doppler-shifted component. A strong 881 keV line associated with
the docay of the first excited (2t) state of the projectile is. also observed. With s6Fe,
the corresponding transition is at 847 keV. Unfortunately, these projectile linos pro-
duee a substantial Gompton background in the region of the target lines and pnwent
weaker transitions from being observed. In practice, with the eaoeption of t64Dy.
this prevented us from observing transitions higher than the 12t -+ 10+ member.
fig. 1 indicates that the coincidence requirement substantially reduces the background
from the projectile line. Nevertheless, due to the low duty cycle of the HYLAC (2 ~),
it was not possible to obtain sul~ent data in approximately 100 hours of machine
time to dearly identify the 14+ -. 12t transition in the 0 spectrum. However, -since
them is a substantially smaller Doppler spread in the 90 spectrum, the 14 t -.12*
is dearly sxn in fig. 2.
Fia. 2. The 90 y-ray spectrum of 'sDy+I4 taten in coinddaace with back-~cstoeted Kr Ions .
Random cohzcideaoes have bees su6ttacted .
3. Metbods of analysis
3.1 . LINESHAPS MA3URBMENT$
The methods used in extracting lifetimes for singles lineshapes following Coulomb
excitation have been filly described in a -previous paper by Inamura et al. 1~), bnt for
completeness the essential points are reproduced here .
The case of a y-ray detector placed at 0 to the beam direction will be considered .
For ions recoiling withveIocity v(t) at an angle Bp with respect to the beam direction,
the Doppler shift dE is given to first order by
~
t MJ~~(~/~)-ldv,
where M is the mass of the recoiling ions and dEfdx is their stopping power in the
target material.
For a fixed projectile energy a(0) and 9p are related by a simple kinematic expres-
sion. In order to compute the Doppler broadened y-ray lineshape, it is necessary to
know the angular distributions of the excited recoil ions. These can be estimated with
the Winther-de-Boer multiple Coulomb excitation program 1 s). Since thick targets
are used, it is necessary to calculate the probabilities for a range ofprojectile energies,
the lower limit being the energy at which the excitation probability of the state of
interest becomes negligible . Diagonal and off-diagonal reduced F.2 matrix elements
are essential input parameters for the Winther-de Boer program. However, it is
shown in ref. 14) that, while the absolute cross sections for excitation are strongly
dependent on the matrix elements, the recoil velocity probabilities for any particular
excited state are relatively insensitive to them. Consequently, the procedure that has
been adopted is to use initially matrix elements predicted by the simple rotational
model aad extract lifetimes from the line.4hapes. In cases where these lifetimes differ
significantly from the rotational predictions, the procedure is iterated using new off
diagonal matrix elements derived from the lifetimes. Rotational values were used for
the diagonal matrix elements.
The stopping powers . used in fitting the lineshapes were the sum of electronic and
nuclear contributions:
m
dx ~~~+ \dXJ a
The prescription of Lindhart, Scharff and 3chiett i6) , with the Blaugruad i') cor-
rection for multiple nuclear scattering included, is used for (dE/dx)o. For (dE/dx)a
LLFB~TMB3 113
two approaches have bean considered, namely the formula. of Lindhart, Scharff
and Schialt i6) and the semi-empirical tables of Northcliffe and Schilling' ). It is
shown by Immures et ol. la) that the Northcliffe and Schilling tabulation gives signi-
ficantly better fits to measured lineshapes than does the Lindhart, Scharff ad Schistt
formula. Moreover, the results of recent direct measurements of dE/dx by Varley
et al. i 9) for Nd in Nd, DY in Dy and Er in Er over a range of energies from 65 to
250 MeY indicate that, for these nuclei and this energy range, tlu Northcliffe
and Schilling predictions underestimate (dE/dx), by between Z and 6 ~ at 250 MeY,
the discrepancy falling essentially to zero in the region of 100 MeV. As -dE/dx is a
rising function of E, the recoil ions spend relatively little time at the higher energies
and the effect of the discrepancy is negligible. This conclusion differs from the sug-
gestion of Sie et aL .?) that, for Sm in Sm and Gd in: Gd, Northcliffe and Schilling
underestimate (dE/dz), by about 22.5 ~: The experimental lifetims discussed in the
succeeding sections of this paper use the Northcliffe and Schilling data without any
correction factors applied.
The computer program used to fit the lineshapes, which is based on a procedure dues
to Sie si) , is discussed bY Inamur et al. la). In the interests of computational ei$-
ciency, the program used for routing analysis differs in two respects from the version
described by Immure et al. Firstly, the angular distributions of the y-rays are not
calculated xplicitly from the . statistical tensors obtained from the Winther-de Boer
program, but instead estimates ar made assuming the nuclei~are fully aligned in the
excitation process. Tests have shown that, since the y-ray detector subtends-a relatively
small angle at the target (15 half:angle), the lifetimes derived from lineshape fits are
little affected by this approximation. The second point concerns the method .by which
the contributions from states higher than the one currently being studied are treated.
Such states will be also Coulomb excited and will than cascade through the state of
interest . Immures et al. la) made use of the statistical te~rs, calculated with the
Winther-de Boer program, for several states above the one under investigation and
combined this information with either measured or estimated values~of the lifetimes
of the states to detarmine.the cascade contribution to the lineshape. An alternative
technique, which substantially reduces the amount of computing time required, has
been developed in which only the state immediately above the one of interest istreat-
ed explicitly. In order to simulate the effect of still higher states, the cross sections
calculated for the one state are i~icressed bY an appropriate factor which is readily
estimated from the relative intensities of the y-ray transitions and is typically less than
50 ~. In addition, the-longer feeding times associated with transitions from the higher
states are accounted for in an approximate manner by increasing the effective lifetime
of the one state included by a small factor (typically 10 %). A number of direct
comparisons between lifetimes determined with the two versions of the program has
been made, and with the single exception of the long lived 8 + state in 1 sa.Dy, agree-
ment is found to be within 5 ~. The sn4all errors incurred by using these computa-
tional expedients have been taken into account in the errors quoted in the final results.
F, KEARNS a al
Y
Y
r
W
L
h
F
i
O
Y
0 O O 00 ~0 p
cxAasEL au~sEa
Fie. 3. Llnesbape fits for tramitions in 1 "Sm and "~Yb .
i
W
i
O
O
Y
CYAaaEL ~OIIEEa
Fie. 4. Lineshape fits for trandtiom in'saBr aad i'Et.
Both programs integrate over the finite angle presented by the y-ray detector to
the target and fold in the resolution function of the (3e(Li) detector. Corrections are
mado for the relativistic photon aberration effect and the variation of y-ray detection
efficiency with energy over the Doppler spread lineshape.
The lineshapes taken in coincidonee with back-scattered Kr ions are treated
similarly. Since the particle detector anbtends a large solid angle, it is not sufficient to
assume a uniform cross section and, as in the singles measurements, the Winther-do
Boer predictions are used. The effoctive target thickness, which varies with the angle
through which the ICr ions are scattered, is estimated from the threshold energy set
for the particle detector and the range of Kr ions in the target material.
A number of plots to Doppler broadened peaks taken in singles are shown in figs.
3-S.
0 b p " " W
CHAIIIIEL 11UMBER
Sinco the measurements were performed in singles the velocities and directions of
motion of the recoiling ions wen not well defined and it is necessary to integc$to over
angles .
Consider a target tho thickness of which, expressed in energy wilts, is dE. Then for
a state ofmean life z; dxaying by y-emission, the intensityIo of the unsh~ed compo-
118 F. ICBARNS et al.
neat in the y-ray spectrum is related to the intensity I, of the Doppler shifted compo-
nent by:
fs'es ~` d~c T E
(l u+I,) So eap (- (ee )~ 2n sin. 9RdB;dE
J J o dBadE
lo a
EO-dS d2~
~2,< Sin eadeadE
de
The flight time ofthe recoiling ions T(Bl, E) is expressed in terms of their velocities
n(BA, E) and the separation D between the target and stopper plate by
s
v(eA, E) 008 Ba
and n(ea, E)is determined from the thin target value n(ea, Ee) by applying corrections
to take account of energy losses in the target for both projectile and recoil ions. As in
the lineshape analysis, the Winther-de Boer program was used to estimate d2Q/dB2 ~dE.
The intensity Io was computod as a function of D for an appropriate range of
values of the lifetime T, and the best valuo of ti was determined by means of a least
squares fitting procedure to the experimental data. Fits for the decay of the 8+ and
10* states in is6Er are shown in fig. 6:
Cascade feeding from higher states was treated in a manner similar to that used in
the lineshape analysis. No correction has been applied forthe de-orientation effect,
in which the angular cornlation of the q-ray transition becomes attenuated due to
s
O
W
i
F
Fib. 6. Results for itDM measurements on 1seFa. The stopped intensity is potted as a of
the separation between tarsal and stopper. The smooth lliaes are the computed beet ts to the data.
LIFSTIMB3 119
hyperfine interactions whilo the ions are recoiling in tho vacuum. This has been oon-
sidered by Rud et al. ~~) for RDM measurements following multiple Coulomb exci-
tation, and they showod that its offect was small. From their analysis we would expect
the de-orientation effect to lead, at most, to a 2 ~ error in the lifetimes deduced from
the present RDM data. Rud et al. found that .a larger error was associated with an
attenuation of tho correlation resulting from magnetic interactions in the stopper
material . However, the present measurements, as discussed in subsect. 2.3,. involve a
comparison of intensities of the stopped peaks only acct, as a consequence, the error
will be nogligible.
Twma 1
Gamme-raY enema (1eeV) ) and mean liven (Pe)
Except where indicated, mean lives have been derived by lineshape analysis of y-ray spectra taloen
in singles.
) Accuracy of all y-ray energies better than f0.5 keV.
") Measaremeats made is particle-3' ooincldeaoe.
) ItDM meas++~+~r"
4. Reeahb
Experimentally determined lifetimes of 8*, 10* and 12+ states and in one case a
14t state are shown in table 1 for the nuclei studied. Most of the nuclei wore Coulomb
excited with both 6Fe and 4Kr, and in these cases, the lifetimes for the 8t and 10+
states are the weighted means of the two measurements . The 12+ states wen not nor-
mally excited with sufficient intensity by s6Fe to permit the determination of life-
120 F. gBARNS et a~
times. Errors quoted for the lifotimes have been determined by combining the purely
statistical errors associated with the lineshape St and the uncertainties in the input
parameters . The systematic enor associated with uncertainty in stpping powers,
has not been included, b~ is thoug~lt to be less than S ~.
The results of RDM measurements for 16fiEr are also shown in table 1. It is seen
that for docays from both the 8{ and 10* states, the agt+eement with the lineshape
results is quito good.
Lineshapes have bcen observed in coincidence with baclo-scattered Kr ions -for
i6oDy and te~Dy targets. The results for lOt and T2+ states are also shown in table 1
and it is seen that satisfactory agrcement is obtained with the singles results. It should
be noted that these coincidence measurements were made with a large acceptance
solid angle for the particlo detector. Consequently, as in the singles measurements, it
was necessary to use Coulomb excitation theory to estimate the angular distributions
of the scattered particles.
Same of the states observed in this work have not been reported previously in the
literature. In consequence, the pray transition energies associated with the decay of
the states are also listed in table 1.
T~ 2
Reduced trsmsition rates B(B2~/B(E2~ determined from the mean divas Presented in table 1
iasgm 1.12f0.09
isagm 1.06f0.07 1.OOf0.06 0.91 f0.06
iss~ 1.03 f0.08 093f0 .06 0.91 f0.09
iss~ 0.97 f 0
.08 0.97f0.08 0.88 f0.07
isoDY 1.1Of0.08 1.O1f0.06 0.87f0.06
0 .%f0 .06') 0.94f0.06 ") ~0.9-1-0.2')
iss~, -0.1
1.03t0.08 1.01 f0.06 0.81 f0.03
is4~, 1.01 f0.12 0.97 f0.06 0.94f0.06 091 f0.06
1.02f0 .07 ") 0.87f0.06 ") 0.79f0.13')
isfgs. 0.99f0.07 1.04f0 .07 0.63(0.05
166~ 1.04 f0.08 1.04 f0.09 1.03 f0.0
0.92f0.03~) 1.12f0.10~)
l.o6to.os o.ss fo.os a93 fo.os
1 .09f0.08 0.91f0.06 1.OSf0.07
i~oyb 1.08 f0.09 1.02 f0.06 0.73 f0.06
ivsyb 1.08f0.08 1 .01 f0.06 1 .13f0.13
i~s~ 1.14f0.09 0.94f0.07 1.07 f0.07
3. nl~on
Values of B(E2), expressed as ratios of the rotational model predictions, are given
in table 2.
It will be noted that all the 8 * -" 6+ and lOt -~ 8t transitions, with one exception,
are within 1.3 standard deviations of the rotational values expected from the well
established B(E2) values of the 2+ -" Ot ground-state transitions. The B(E2) values
for the 121 ~ lOt transitions fall into two groups . For ten of the thirteen nuclei they
are within two standard deviations of the rotational value, but for the remaining three
the valves fall below the rotational value by more than three standard deviations.
Three of the rst group, 1 ss~ isaw, and i ss~ ~ known not to backbend up
to the 16t~ level, while isoDy bends uP gently at the 141 level. No information is
available on the higher spin states of the remainder of this group.
Ia the second group nothing is known about the higher states of is1 Dy, but it
should be noted that all the other doubly even nuclei with N s 96 show backbending
in their yrast levels . The nucleus l'Yb with a. B(E2)/B(E2),~ for the 121 state of
0.75f0.06 is a deaite backbender, while 1 s4Er with a value of 0.6310.05 for the
same ratio backbends sharply in its yrast levels . It would therefore seem plausible
that this retardation of the B(E2)values is associated in some way with backbeading.
The results for 164Er require further discussion . In a recent letter Lee etx1. 13) present
results obtained from the Coulomb excitation of 1 s4Er by beams of 13 6 Xe, together
with results from the isoDy(at, 4n)16~Er reaction at Sl MeV. From their results
they conclude that there is a second 16+ level at 3.408 MeV and a second 18+ level
at 4.115 MeV, and further that these new levels constitute the continuation of the
ground-state band, as the Coulomb excitation follows this route. Theirresults imply
that the B(E2) for the 560.8 keY transition associated with the decay of the side
bead 161 state is about 30 ~ of the rotational value corresponding to a lifetime of
about 2.5 ps. The possibility that a weak component of this transition might modify
the lifetime determined for the 564.7 keV 121 ~ lOt transition has been considered .
This can be eacludod both because the resolution was su~cciently good to separate a
sharp 560.8 keV line from a broadened line at 564.7 keV and because the excitation
cross sections are such that even if the two stopped peaks coincided the measured
lifetime would not change by more than 3 ~.
The effect of band mixing on B(E2; 121 -. 10+) for 16~Er is now examined . From
the observed positions of the two 161 and two 18 + states Lee et al. estimate the spin
independent band interaction strength to be 38 keV. For such a weak interaction the
12+ and 10+ states will remain relatively pure members of the gsb. If the amplitudes
of the gsb and upper band in a state of angular momentum I are represented by al
and f, the values of r are 0.13 at I` a 121 and 0.075 at I` = 101 assuming that,the
moment of inertia of the upper band is given by 2.j/i11 = 130 MeV-1 . The B(E2)
between successive members of the mixed band is given by
122 F. gEARNS .et a/.
Our thanks arc due to the HILAC crew for the smooth operation of the machine
and to T. L. Morgan for preparation of the targets. Two of us (F .IK. and G.A .Y.) are
grateful to the SRC for providing financial. assistance and one of us (T.I. ) performed
this work while on leave of absence from The Institute of Physical and Chemical
Research, Schema, Japan.