Decay of the heaviest isotope of neodymium:154Nd

Excited states in the two N=76 nuclei ¹³⁸ Sm and ¹³⁹ Eu have been identified via ³² S induced reactions on different targets using γ-ray spectroscopy methods. Lifetimes have been measured with the Doppler shift recoil distance technique, showing the coexistence of a large nuclear deformation (β=0.24) with excitations of single particle character. The E2 transition strengths in the odd-even nucleus ¹³⁹Eu and in its core¹³⁸ Sm are discussed.