Search for double- β decay processes in 108Cd and 114Cd with the help of the low-background CdWO 4 crystal scintillator

The lifetime of the recently discovered six-quasiparticle (6-qp) isomer in ¹⁴⁰Nd has been measured using the ¹²⁶Te(¹⁸O, 4n) reaction and the pulsed-beam technique at the Institut de Physique Nucléaire (IPN) Orsay. The deduced lifetime of the 6-qp isomer in ¹⁴⁰Nd of 1.23(7)μs supports the 20⁺ spin-parity assignment to the isomeric state which is based on a spherical configuration that coexists with the triaxial bands observed in this spin range. Evidence for delayed components for the transitions below the 19/2⁺ state in ¹³⁹Nd was observed, with an apparent half-life of 272(4)ns.