Investigation of the decay of to excited states in

The two-neutrino mode of double beta decay of is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The calculations, using the quasiparticle random phase approximation approach, show that for the detection of transitions to the two first excited states in the daughter nuclide will be possible in the very near future. On the experimental side, new, most stringent limits on half-lives for the double beta decay of to excited states in have been obtained with a `well-type' germanium detector. They range between and years (90% CL).