Eur. Phys. J. A (2005) 24: 57-62
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2004-10124-7

Prolate structures in ¹⁸⁹Po and ¹⁸⁵Pb

¹ Instituut voor Kern- en Stralingsfysica, University of Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, 3001, Leuven, Belgium
² Oliver Lodge Laboratory, University of Liverpool, L69 7ZE, Liverpool, UK
³ Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung, Planckstrasse 1, 64291, Darmstadt, Germany
⁴ Department of Physics, Royal Institute of Technology, 104 05, Stockholm, Sweden
⁵ Department of Physics, University of Jyväskylä, 40014, Jyväskylä, Finland
⁶ Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
⁷ TRIUMF, 4004 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
⁸ Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, 55099, Mainz, Germany
⁹ Physikalisches Institut, J.W. Goethe-Universität, 60054, Frankfurt, Germany

^* e-mail: karen.vandevel@vito.be

Received: 15 April 2004
Accepted: 10 January 2005
Published online: 25 January 2005

Abstract

The 3/2^- isomer in ¹⁸⁵Pb and states above it have been populated in the α-decay of ¹⁸⁹Po. The observed α-decay strengths to and the electromagnetic decay properties of the excited states in ¹⁸⁵Pb have been combined with Potential Energy Surface and Particle-Plus-Rotor calculations to propose configuration assignments. It is suggested that the α-decaying isomer of ¹⁸⁹Po is of prolate origin and that the prolate configuration becomes very low in energy in ¹⁸⁵Pb.