Observation of excited proton and neutron configurations in the superdeformed Gd149 nucleus

Two excited superdeformed bands in Gd149 have been observed in γ-ray spectroscopy. Based on the behavior of the dynamical moments of inertia, we assign one band to a neutron excitation and the other to a proton excitation. The proton-excited-band γ-ray energies are nearly identical to those already known in Tb150. In addition, two new members of the Gd149 yrast cascade have been observed, extending the band to spin 135/2ħ. The results are discussed in terms of high-N intruder orbitals in the cranked-shell model.