Decay properties of the 31- level in ⁹⁶Mo

Abstract

© 2019 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved. The first excited 31- level of 96Mo was investigated in a high-statistics experiment using the 95Mo(n, ) cold neutron capture reaction. The measurements used the high cold neutron flux from the research reactor at Institut Laue-Langevin and employed the highly-efficient EXILL array to detect -ray coincidences. The recorded statistics allow identification of decay branches with only a small relative intensity including the 31- 0+gs E3 decay. With the knowledge of the newly measured branching ratio and the known - + B(E3, 31 0gs) transition probability, the lifetime of the 31- level was determined and, subsequently, the B(E1) strength of the other decay branches of the 31- octupole phonon were calculated. The extracted electromagnetic decay strengths are compared to the systematics of the stable even even molybdenum isotopes and values calculated in a Skyrme-force based quasiparticle random phase approximation and in a cluster approach. Additionally, the 31- 2+iv decay branch to the low-lying 2+iv quadrupole isovector level was observed.