Superdeformation in Pb-193: Observation of three additional excited bands

The superdeformed nucleus Pb-193 has been studied following a heavy-ion fus ion-evaporation reaction with the Gammasphere spectrometer array. Three new superdeformed bands, two of them probably signature partners, have been ob served, bringing the total number of superdeformed bands known in this nucl eus to nine. An estimate of the g-factor associated with one of the previou sly known pairs of strongly coupled excited bands has been made, confirming their configuration. The properties of the bands are compared with the res ults of cranked shell model calculations; good agreement is found and confi gurations are assigned to each band. The two new signature partner bands ar e suggested to be based on the two signatures of the [512]5/2 neutron orbit al. The third new band is probably based on the 7(3)' intruder orbital. In addition, the high-energy region of the spectrum in coincidence with the yr ast superdeformed bands has been carefully studied. The current data provid e no evidence for the previously reported transitions linking the superdefo rmed and normal-deformed states with energies around 2.2-2.4 MeV. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.