Spectroscopy of very neutron-deficient 187,189Bi isotopes

2003

Shape coexistence is well known to occur in nuclei, in particular near closed shells [1], where particle-hole excitations across the shell gap can create deformed intruder states. In the neutron-deficient lead isotopes (Z = 82), deformed structures appear at low excitation energy. The isotope 188Pb [2] shows for example a triple shape coexistence with oblate and prolate excited 0+ states that compete with the spherical ground state. The study of the odd-proton single-particle excitations in Bi isotopes allows to obtain information on the orbitals involved in the different shapes observed in this mass region.