Coupling of single neutron configurations to collective core excitations in 162Yb using 163Yb

Abstract

In odd-nuclei the single nucleon can couple to collective excitations of its even-even core nucleus . These collective excitations lie within the pairing gap and are therefore the lowest energy excitations of the core. Our physics motivation is to search for structures where an odd neutron couples to collective excitations of the 162Yb core. We also searched for high-K structures in this nucleus. The experiment 152Sm(16O,5n)163Yb at Elab = 93 MeV was performed to study 163Yb at iThemba LABS. The gamma-decays from the reaction products have been detected using the AFRODITE (AFRican Omnipurpose Detector for Innovative Techniques and Experiments) gamma-ray spectrometer [2] equipped with 8 escape-suppressed clover detectors.