Decay studies of the neutron-rich isotopes 168Dy and 168Hog and the identification of the new isomer 168Hom.

Abstract

Multinucleon transfer reactions between $^{170}\mathrm{Er}$ ions and $^{\mathrm{nat}}\mathrm{W}$ targets with on-line mass separation were used to produce neutron-rich A=168 isotopes. \ensuremath{\beta} and \ensuremath{\gamma} spectroscopy was used to study the decay of these activities. A new isomer of holmium, $^{168}\mathrm{Ho}^{\mathit{m}}$, was identified to decay by an isomeric transition with a half-life of 132(4) s. A decay scheme for the most neutron-rich A=168 isotope, 8.8(3)-min $^{168}\mathrm{Dy}$, was determined. Also, a new ${\mathit{Q}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\beta}}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}$ value of 2.93(3) MeV for the decay of 3.0-min $^{168}\mathrm{Ho}^{\mathit{g}}$ has been obtained.