Isomeric states in neutron-deficient A~80-90 nuclei populated in the fragmentation of Ag107
The relativistic projectile fragmentation of a 750 MeV per nucleon beam of Ag107 was used to populate isomeric states in neutron-deficient nuclei around A=80-90. Reaction products were separated and unambiguously identified using the GSI FRagment Separator (FRS) and its ancillary detectors. At the final focal plane, the fragments were slowed from relativistic energies by means of an aluminium degrader and implanted in a passive stopper in the center of the high-efficiency, high-granularity Stopped Rare Isotope Spectroscopic INvestigation at GSI (RISING) germanium array. This allowed the identification of excited states in the N=Z nuclei 4386Tc and, for the first time, 4182Nb. Isomeric states have also been identified for the first time in Tc87,88, and a previously unreported isomer was observed in Nb84. Experimental results are presented along with a discussion on the structure of these nuclei based on interpretations provided by several theoretical models. © 2009 The American Physical Society. ; Sponsored by the EPSRC (UK) and STFC (UK), The Swedish Research Council, The Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (Grant Nos. P03B03030 and N N202 309135), the Bulgarian Science Fund VUF06/05, the US Department of Energy (Grant Nos. DE-FG02-91ER-40609 and DE-AC02-06CH11357), the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Project Nos. FPA2005-00696 and FPA2007-66069), the German Federal Ministry of Education, the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (Contract No. K68801), research under Grant No. 06KY205I, and EURONS (European Commision Contract No. 506065). Chinese Major State Basic Development Program through Grant No. 2007CB815005 and the Natural Science Foundation of China under Contract No. 10875077.Nexia Solutions Ltd, a subsidiary of BNFL, for financial support. ; Peer Reviewed