Measurement of the Sign of the Spectroscopic Quadrupole Moment for the 2+1 State in 70Se: No Evidence for Oblate Shape
Phys. Rev. Lett.
Using a method whereby molecular and atomic ions are independently selected, an isobarically pure beam of
70
Se
ions was postaccelerated to an energy of 206 MeV using REX-ISOLDE. Coulomb-excitation yields for states in the beam and target nuclei were deduced by recording deexcitation 𝛾 rays in the highly segmented MINIBALL 𝛾-ray spectrometer in coincidence with scattered particles in a silicon detector. At these energies, the Coulomb-excitation yield for the first 2+ state is expected to be strongly sensitive to the sign of the spectroscopic quadrupole moment through the nuclear reorientation effect. Experimental evidence is presented here for a prolate shape for the first 2+ state in
70
Se
, reopening the question over whether there are, as reported earlier, deformed oblate shapes near to the ground state in the light selenium isotopes.