First Observation Of Excited States In The Neutron Deficient N=86 Isotones Ta-159 And W-160

The decays of excited states in the neutron deficient nuclei Ta-159 and W-160 have been identified for the first time. The nuclei of interest were produced in reactions induced by beams of Ni-58 ions at energies of 286 MeV, 291 MeV, and 298 MeV bombarding a Cd-106 target. Prompt gamma rays were recorded using the JUROSPHERE spectrometer and were tagged through the subsequent ct decays of associated recoil ions measured in a position-sensitive silicon strip detector at the focal plane of the gas-filled separator RITU. Level schemes have been deduced and compared with similar structures observed in neighboring nuclei.