Nuclear structure effects in the feeding of yrast states of Gd,Dy and Er nuclei

The population of the yrast and near-yrast levels in Gd, Dy and Er nuclei has been investigated experimentally in (heavy ion, xn) reactions through high-resolution γ-ray intensity measurements. A clear difference between non-rotor (N ? 86) and rotor nuclei (N > 86) is evident from the data. For the non-rotor nuclei we define the spin value I_sat below which the yrast population saturates. One finds that I_sat is independent of the bombarding energy when the latter becomes sufficiently high. We discuss the feeding pattern in relation to the single-particle structure of the yrast and near-yrast levels and in relation to the effect of shape changes, including the possibility of superdeformed shapes at high spin.