Low-lying positive parity bands in 162Yb

Abstract

The structure of the low-lying positive parity bands in 162Yb has been studied at iThemba LABS, using the 150Sm(16O,4n)162Yb fusion-evaporation reaction. A band built on the first excited $0^{+}_{2}$ state has been identified for the first time. In addition, we report new rotational levels that form the band structures of both the odd and even spin components of the $\gamma$ -vibrational band. The first excited $0^{+}_{2}$ band and the even spin members of the $\gamma$ -vibrational band exhibit a Landau-Zenner crossing. This crossing demonstrates that the significant signature splitting between the odd and even spin members of the $\gamma$ band is contributed to by band mixing.