Spectroscopy of Neutron-Deficient Nuclei Near the Z=82 Closed Shell via Symmetric Fusion Reactions

¹ Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA
² Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
³ Department of Physics, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland 21402, USA

^a e-mail: kondev@anl.gov

Published online: 19 December 2013

Abstract

In-beam and decay-spectroscopy studies of neutron-deficient nuclei near the Z=82 shell closure were carried out using the Fragment Mass Analyzer (FMA) and the Gammasphere array, in conjunction with symmetric fusion reactions and the Recoil Decay Tagging (RDT) technique. The primary motivation was to study properties of ¹⁷⁹Tl and ¹⁸⁰Tl, and their daughter, and grand-daughter isotopes. For the first time, in-beam structures associated with ¹⁷⁹Tl and ¹⁸⁰Tl were observed, as well as γ rays associated with the ¹⁸⁰Tl α decay. No long-lived isomer was identified in ¹⁸⁰Tl, in contrast with the known systematics for the heavier odd-odd Tl isotopes.