Lifetimes of 0+ states in 162Dy

Transfer reactions at the high-precision Q3D spectrometer at the University of Munich have shown that there are many low-lying excited Kπ=0+ states in well-deformed nuclei. A recent study of 162Dy shows eleven 0+ states below an energy of 3 MeV. While this nucleus is studied extensively, the lifetimes of the new states were not known. We report on lifetime measurements of the newly observed states in order to determine their properties and allow the characterization of these states. Level lifetimes of 0+ states in 162Dy were measured by the (n,n′γ) reaction and the Doppler-shift attenuation method at the University of Kentucky. This work allow us to report the transition probabilities from six of the eleven 0+ states. We suggest that the first excited Kπ = 0+ excitation at 1400.2 keV in 162Dy may be the β vibrational excitation and not the γγ excitation indicated in the past or a shape coexistence minimum.