Double band crossing in the superdeformed nucleus 145Gd

The nuclear structure of 145Gd has been investigated via the 114Cd(36S,5n) reaction. Three superdeformed bands have been discovered, consisting of 17, 16 and 10 transitions, respectively. The first excited superdeformed band shows two band crossings which are assigned to the subsequent alignment of an View the MathML source proton pair and a crossing of the View the MathML source and View the MathML source neutron orbitals, respectively. Such a double band crossing has been observed for the first time. The second excited superdeformed band is assigned as the signature partner of the previous band but shows no band crossing in the observed frequency range. The band crossing behaviour of the SD bands has been described theoretically.