Nuclear-decay studies of neutron-rich rare-earth nuclides

Abstract

Neutron-rich rare-earth nuclei were produced in multinucleon transfer reactions of {sup 170}Er and {sup 176}Yb projectiles on {sup nat}W targets at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory SuperHILAC and their radioactive decays properties studied at the on-line mass separation facility OASIS. Two unknown isotopes, {sup 169}Dy (t {sub 1/2} {equals} 39 {plus minus} 8 s) and {sup 174}Er(t{sub 1/2} {equals} 3.3 {plus minus} 0.2 m) were discovered and their decay characteristics determined. The decay schemes for two previously identified isotopes, {sup 168}Dy (t{sub 1/2} {equals} 8.8 {plus minus} 0.3 m) and {sup 171}Ho (t{sub 1/2} {equals} 55 {plus minus} 3 s), were characterized. Evidence for a new isomer of 3.0 m {sup 168}Ho{sup g}, {sup 168}Ho{sup m} (t{sub 1/2} {equals} 132 {plus minus} 4 s) which decays by isomeric transition (IT) is presented. Beta particle endpoint energies were determined for the decay of {sup 168}Ho{sup g}, {sup 169}Dy, {sup 171}Ho, and {sup 174}Er, the resulting Q{beta}-values are: 2.93 {plus minus} 0.03, 3.2 {plus minus} 0.3, 3.2 {plus minus} 0.6, and 1.8 {plus minus} 0.2 MeV, respectively. These values were compared with values calculated using recent atomic mass formulae. Comparisons of various target/ion source geometries used in the OASIS mass separator facility for these multinucleon transfer reactions were performed. 73 refs., 40 figs., 11 tabs.