Neutron and proton alignment at high spin in 168W

Excited states in the neutron-deficient nucleus ¹⁶⁸W, populated in the ¹⁴⁸Sm(²⁴Mg, 4n)¹⁶⁸W reaction, have been studied using γ-ray spectroscopy. The yrast band, which is identified up to about spin 28, shows a very strong backbend at low frequency, $\text{h}\text{?}\text{ω}{}_{\mathrm{c}}\text{= 0.235}\text{MeV}$, attributed to the $\text{(i}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>13</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{)}{}^2$ neutron alignment. Evidence for a second backbend is also observed. A strongly populated odd-spin (probably negative-parity) sideband is also identified to the spin, and shows several band-crossing anomalies. The characterisation of the anomalies is made by comparison with CSM calculations. Proton and neutron alignments are probably present in the sideband, and the second backbend in the yrast sequence may be due to alignment of $\text{i}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>13</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ protons.