Highly deformed structures in Sm-135,Sm-136

High-spin states have been populated in the neutron-deficient Sm-135,Sm-136 nuclei via the Pd-105(Cl-35,pxn) reaction at a beam energy of 180 MeV. Tra nsitions within the Sm nuclei were enhanced by using the Microball charged particle array and gamma-ray de-excitation was studied using Gammasphere. A new highly deformed band has been observed in the data and assigned to Sm- 136. Comparison of the properties of the new band with Woods-Saxon cranking calculations suggests that it is built upon a nu(i(13/2))(2) configuration ,The band shows evidence for an interaction at h omega similar to 0.7 MeV. This has tentatively been interpreted as resulting from a crossing between the alpha = + 1/2 signatures of the [532]5/2 and [541]1/2 proton orbitals. The previously known nu i(13/2) intruder band in Sm-135 was also observed a nd extended to higher rotational frequency. Both structures show good agree ment with extended total Routhian surface calculations. [S0556-2813(98)0121 2-6].