A shell model study of the high spin states of 88

Experiments were carried out at the Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory at Yale University using the 21MV ESTU Tandem Van de Graaff accelerator with the purpose of studying Y. A beam of O impinged at laboratory energies of 60, 65 and 70 MeV on a 600 μg/cm Ge target with a thick (10mg/cm) Au backing. This experiment was performed with the specific aim of accessing medium spin states of the nucleus of interest. A second experiment was undertaken to populate the nucleus of interest in higher spin states by impinging the same O beam on a thin 62 μg/cm Ge target with a 20 μg/cm carbon backing at a laboratory beam energy of 90 MeV. Gamma rays emitted following the decay of excited states in Y and other nuclei populated in the reactions were measured using the YRAST ball detector array, consisting of 10 Compton suppressed HPGe clover detectors. In conjunction with the experimental study presented here, nuclear shell model calculations using a truncated valence space have also been performed in an attempt to describe the single-particle make-up of the states observed. Preliminary results from these experiments and theoretical calculations are presented.