Two-quasiparticle excitations and collectivity in the weakly-deformed transitional isotopes 104, 106, 108Cd

Using the generalized centroid-shift method on the Rutgers tandem, the following half-lives of ¹⁰⁶Cd excited states were measured in the reaction ⁹³Nb(¹⁶O, p2n): $\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(3679.0}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.7}{}^{\mathrm{+0.1}}{}_{\mathrm{?0.3}}\text{ns}\text{, T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(3507.8}\text{keV}\text{) = 1.2 ± 0.4}\text{ns}\text{, T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(3044.2}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.4 ± 0.1}\text{ns, and}\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(2330.7}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.6 ± 0.2}\text{ns}$. With the same method applied on the Rossendorf cyclotron, the following half-lives were measured in the reactions ${}^{\mathrm{102,\; 106}}\text{Pd}\text{(α, 2}\text{n}\text{): T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(2902.0}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.8}{}^{\mathrm{+0.2}}{}_{\mathrm{?0.1}}\text{ns}\text{(}{}^{104}\text{Cd}\text{)}$ as well as $\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(3737.3}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.2 ± 0.1}\text{ns}$, $\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(3223.7}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.2 ± 0.1}\text{ns}$, $\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(3057.4}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.10 ± 0.05}\text{ns}$, $\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(2975.3}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.15 ± 0.10}\text{ns}$, $\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(3110.5}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.3 ± 0.1}\text{ns}$, and $\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(2565.2}\text{keV}\text{) = 0.2 ± 0.1}\text{ns}\text{(}{}^{108}\text{Cd}\text{)}$. The results reveal the non-collective (two-quasiparticle) character of several states above 2.9 MeV in ^{104, 106, 108}Cd, in qualitative accordance with predictions of the slightly-deformed-rotor model. They concern completely aligned h_{$\text{11}\text{2}$}g_{$\text{7}\text{2}$}] (9^??11^?-13^?, etc.) as well as semi-decoupled h_{$\text{11}\text{2}$}d_{$\text{5}\text{2}$}] (6^?-8^?-10^?, etc.) two-quasineutron band structures. Further, the possible character of 8⁺ (two-quasiproton) excitations, 5⁺ (two-quasineutron) states and of other intrinsic excitations is discussed. The experimental findings present a challenge to current theories of transitional nuclei for a quantitative treatment of absolute γ-ray transition strengths.