Reaching the prolate-oblate boundary at 𝑁=116 via first fragmentation of a 198 Pt beam: Sharp transition to triaxiality in 189 Ta
High-spin isomers in very-neutron-rich 𝐴≈190 Hf-Ta-W nuclei were populated via the pioneering fragmentation of a 198 Pt primary beam at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. The nuclei were implanted in a Si detector stack surrounded by the Gamma-Ray Energy Tracking In-beam Nuclear Array (GRETINA) to detect delayed 𝛾 rays, providing first level schemes using 𝛾−𝛾 coincidence data from isomeric decays in this previously inaccessible region of the nuclear chart. Here, a sudden transition to a strong triaxial shape is observed in the very-neutron-rich 189 Ta (𝑁 = 116) nucleus from axially prolate shapes in lighter Ta isotopes, providing a critical experimental benchmark for competing theoretical predictions of nuclear-shape evolution.