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The synthesis of the neutron deficient 138La nucleus has been a puzzle for a long time. It has not been clear whether it is produced through photodisintegration processes or neutrino induced reactions due to unavailability of experimental data for nuclear level densities and γ strength functions of 138,139La nuclei. In the present work these nuclear properties have been measured and are used to investigate the synthesis of 138La. The results support the neutrino interactions as a dominant production process for 138La.

An excess of strength on the low-energy tail of the giant dipole resonance recently has been observed in the γ-decay from the quasicontinuum of 195,196Pt. The nature of this phenomenon is not yet fully investigated. If this feature is present also in the γ-ray strength of the neutron-rich isotopes, it can affect the neutron-capture reactions involved in the formation of heavy-elements in stellar nucleosynthesis. The experimental level density and γ-ray strength function of 195,196Pt are presented together with preliminary calculations of the corresponding neutron-capture cross sections.

The γ-strength functions and level densities of 73,74Ge have been extracted from particle-γ coincidence data using the Oslo method. In addition the γ-strength function of 74Ge above the neutron separation threshold, Sn = 10.196 MeV has been extracted from photoneutron measurements. When combined, these two experiments give a γ-strength function covering the energy range of ∼1-13 MeV for 74Ge. This thorough investigation of 74Ge is a part of an international campaign to study the previously reported low energy enhancement in this mass region in the γ-strength function from ∼3MeV towards lower γ energies. The obtained data show that both 73,74Ge display an increase in strength at low γ energies.

The γ-ray strength function and level density of 111, 112, 113Sn are being studied at the Oslo Cyclotron Laboratory (OCL) up to the neutron binding energy by applying the Oslo method to particle-γ coincidence data. The preliminary results for the γ-ray strength function are discussed in the context of the results for the more neutron-rich Sn-isotopes previously studied at OCL.

An unexpected enhancement in the low-energy part of the γ-strength function for light and medium-mass nuclei has been discovered at the Oslo Cyclotron Laboratory. This enhancement could lead to an increase in the neutron-capture rates up to two orders of magnitude for very exotic, neutron-rich nuclei. However, it is still an open question whether this structure persists when approaching the neutron drip line.

The properties of the excited states of gold isotopes were investigated at the Oslo Cyclotron Laboratory. This study is important for the understanding of neutron capture rates in astrophysical plasmas relevant for heavy element nucleosynthesys.

Lifetimes of first 4+ and 6+ states have been measured in neutron-rich isotopes of Zr, Mo, Ru and Pd using the recoil distance Doppler shift method at GANIL. The nuclei were produced through a fusion-fission reaction in inverse kinematics. The fission fragments were fully identified in the large-acceptance VAMOS spectrometer and γ-rays were detected in coincidence with the EXOGAM germanium array. Lifetimes of excited states in the range of 1–100 ps were measured with the Cologne plunger. Preliminary lifetime results are presented as well as a discussion on the evolution of the collectivity in this region.

The surrogate-reaction method is an indirect way of determining cross sections for reactions that proceed through a compound nucleus. This technique may enable neutron-induced cross sections to be extracted for short-lived nuclei that otherwise cannot be measured. However, the validity of the surrogate method for extracting capture cross sections has to be investigated. In this work we study the reactions 238U(d,p)239U, 238U(3He,t)238Np, 238U(3He,4He)237U as surrogates for neutroninduced reactions on 238U, 237Np and 236U, respectively, for which good quality data exist. The experimental set-up enabled the measurement of fission and gamma-decay probabilities. First results are presented and discussed.