Coulomb excitation of neutron-rich Zn isotopes: first observation of the 2(1)+ state in 80Zn

• Published in: Physical review letters Vol. 99; no. 14; p. 142501
• Main Authors: Van de Walle, J, Aksouh, F, Ames, F, Behrens, T, Bildstein, V, Blazhev, A, Cederkäll, J, Clément, E, Cocolios, T E, Davinson, T, Delahaye, P, Eberth, J, Ekström, A, Fedorov, D V, Fedosseev, V N, Fraile, L M, Franchoo, S, Gernhauser, R, Georgiev, G, Habs, D, Heyde, K, Huber, G, Huyse, M, Ibrahim, F, Ivanov, O, Iwanicki, J, Jolie, J, Kester, O, Köster, U, Kröll, T, Krücken, R, Lauer, M, Lisetskiy, A F, Lutter, R, Marsh, B A, Mayet, P, Niedermaier, O, Nilsson, T, Pantea, M, Perru, O, Raabe, R, Reiter, P, Sawicka, M, Scheit, H, Schrieder, G, Schwalm, D, Seliverstov, M D, Sieber, T, Sletten, G, Smirnova, N, Stanoiu, M, Stefanescu, I, Thomas, J-C, Valiente-Dobón, J J, Van Duppen, P, Verney, D, Voulot, D, Warr, N, Weisshaar, D, Wenander, F, Wolf, B H, Zielińska, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 05.10.2007
• ISSN: 0031-9007

Neutron-rich, radioactive Zn isotopes were investigated at the Radioactive Ion Beam facility REX-ISOLDE (CERN) using low-energy Coulomb excitation. The energy of the 2(1)+ state in 78Zn could be firmly established and for the first time the 2+ --> 0(1)+ transition in 80Zn was observed at 1492(1) keV. B(E2,2(1)+ --> 0(1)+) values were extracted for (74,76,78,80)Zn and compared to large scale shell model calculations. With only two protons outside the Z=28 proton core, 80Zn is the lightest N=50 isotone for which spectroscopic information has been obtained to date. Two sets of advanced shell model calculations reproduce the observed B(E2) systematics. The results for N=50 isotones indicate a good N=50 shell closure and a strong Z=28 proton core polarization. The new results serve as benchmarks to establish theoretical models, predicting the nuclear properties of the doubly magic nucleus 78Ni.