Abstract. Isomeric states in ²⁵⁴No were investigated using a calorimetric method. Two different isomers were found with half-lives of T_1/2=266±2 ms and T_1/2=184±3 μs, respectively. The dominant decay path of the 184 μs isomer proceeds via states feeding the longer-lived 266 ms isomer. The 266 ms isomer in turn decays via a two-quasi-particle K=3 band to the ground-state band. The full decay path was observed with the GREAT spectrometer located at the focal plane of the gas-filled separator RITU at the Accelerator Laboratory in Jyväskylä. This work sheds light on the two-quasi-particle structure in this transfermium nucleus.

PACS numbers: 21.10.Tg, 23.20.Lv, 27.90.+b

Print publication: Issue T125 (July 2006)
Received 10 August 2005, accepted for publication 1 September 2005
Published 28 June 2006