171Hf

[paper] Quadrupole moment measurements for strongly deformed bands in 171,172Hf

Quadrupole moment measurements for strongly deformed bands in 171,172Hf

S. Mukhopadhyay et al.

doi: 10.1103/PhysRevC.83.044311

A lifetime experiment, using the Doppler-shift attenuation method, has been performed at Gammasphere to measure the transition quadrupole moments Qt of strongly deformed bands in 171Hf and 172Hf. The measured value of Qt ~ 9.5 e b for the band labeled ED in 171Hf strongly supports the recent suggestion that this sequence and several structures with similar properties in neighboring Hf isotopes are associated with a near-prolate shape with a deformation enhanced relative to that of normal deformed structures. The measured values of Qt ~ 14 e b for the bands labeled SD1 and SD3 in 172Hf confirm that these sequences are associated with a prolate superdeformed shape, a property inferred in earlier work from other measured characteristics of the bands. Similar bands in 173-175Hf are also likely to be associated with superdeformed shapes. The observations are in contrast to predictions of cranking calculations performed with the ultimate cranker code.