Superdeformation in 145Sm

Two superdeformed bands have been observed in the nucleus 145Sm in an experiment performed with the Gammasphere multidetector array. One of these bands demonstrates a sudden rise in its dynamic moment of inertia at low frequency which may be related to the interaction between N=6 Nilsson orbitals at the Fermi surface. The other band has a moment of inertia identical to the yrast band of 149Gd, making it the fourth case in the A≃150 mass region of identical bands in nuclei differing by an α particle.