Neutron-Rich {sup 62,64,64}Fe Show Enhanced Collectivity: The Washout of N = 40 in Terms of Experiment, Valence Proton Symmetry and Shell Model
Probing shell structure at a large neutron excess has been of particular interest in recent times. Neutron-rich nuclei between the proton shell closures Z = 20 and Z = 28 offer an exotic testing ground for shell evolution. The development of the N = 40gap between neutron fp and lg{sub 9/2} shells gives rise to highly interesting variations of collectivity for nuclei in this region. While {sup 68}Ni shows doubly magic properties in level energies and transition strengths, this was not observed in neighbouring nuclei. Especially neutron-rich Fe isotopes proved particularly resistant to calculational approaches using the canonical valence space (fpg) resulting in important deviations of the predicted collectivity. Only an inclusion of the d{sub 5/2}-orbital could solve the problem [1]. Hitherto no transition strengths for {sup 66}Fe have been reported. We determined B(E2,2{sup +}{sub 1}{yields}0{sup +}{sub 1}) values from lifetimes measured with the recoil distance Doppler-shift method using the Cologne plunger for radioactive beams at National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University. Excited states were populated by projectile Coulomb excitation for {sup 62,64,66}Fe. The data show a rise in collectivity for Fe isotopes towards N = 40. Results [2] are interpreted by means of a modified version of the Valence Proton Symmetry [3] and compared to shell model calculations using a new effective interaction recently developed for the fpgd valence space [4].