γ-ray spectroscopy of low-lying excited states and shape competition in 194Os.

The properties of excited states in the neutron-rich nucleus 194Os have been investigated using the 192Os(18O,16O)194Os reaction with an 80 MeV beam provided by the IFIN-HH Laboratory, Bucharest. Discrete γ-ray decays from excited states have been measured using the hybrid HPGe-LaBr3(Ce) array RoSPHERE. The current work identifies a number of previously unreported low-lying nonyrast states in 194Os as well as the first measurement of the half-life of the yrast 2+ state of 302(50) ps. This is equivalent to a B(E2:2+→0+)=45(16) W.u. and intrinsic quadrupole deformation of βeff=0.14(1). The experimental results are compared with Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov-interacting-boson-model calculations and are consistent with a reduction in a quadrupole collectivity in Os isotopes with increasing neutron number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]