Search

The low-spin structure of the semimagic ^{64}Ni nucleus has been considerably expanded: combining four experiments, several 0^{+} and 2^{+} excited states were identified below 4.5 MeV, and their properties established. The Monte Carlo shell model accounts for the results and unveils an unexpectedly complex landscape of coexisting shapes: a prolate 0^{+} excitation is located at a surprisingly high energy (3463 keV), with a collective 2^{+} state 286 keV above it, the first such observation in Ni isotopes. The evolution in excitation energy of the prolate minimum across the neutron N=40 subshell gap highlights the impact of the monopole interaction and its variation in strength with N.

A search for shape isomers in the ^{66}Ni nucleus was performed, following old suggestions of various mean-field models and recent ones, based on state-of-the-art Monte Carlo shell model (MCSM), all considering ^{66}Ni as the lightest nuclear system with shape isomerism. By employing the two-neutron transfer reaction induced by an ^{18}O beam on a ^{64}Ni target, at the sub-Coulomb barrier energy of 39 MeV, all three lowest-excited 0^{+} states in ^{66}Ni were populated and their γ decay was observed by γ-coincidence technique. The 0^{+} states lifetimes were assessed with the plunger method, yielding for the 0_{2}^{+}, 0_{3}^{+}, and 0_{4}^{+} decay to the 2_{1}^{+} state the B(E2) values of 4.3, 0.1, and 0.2 Weisskopf units (W.u.), respectively. MCSM calculations correctly predict the existence of all three excited 0^{+} states, pointing to the oblate, spherical, and prolate nature of the consecutive excitations. In addition, they account for the hindrance of the E2 decay from the prolate 0_{4}^{+} to the spherical 2_{1}^{+} state, although overestimating its value. This result makes ^{66}Ni a unique nuclear system, apart from ^{236,238}U, in which a retarded γ transition from a 0^{+} deformed state to a spherical configuration is observed, resembling a shape-isomerlike behavior.