High-spin studies of 164Lu using EUROBALL

A new region of superdeformed shapes with a pronounced triaxiality coexisting with normal deformation exists for nuclei with N similar to 94 and Z similar to 71. Calculations with the Ultimate Cranker have revealed that triaxial SD minima with gamma similar to +/-20 degrees are expected for all symmetry groups (pi,alpha). In an odd-odd nucleus, the possibility exists to exploit the various combinations of proton and neutron orbitals which are expected to sample the triaxial minima differently A search for such structures was performed as one of the first Euroball experiments using the reaction La-139(Si-29,4n) with thin self-supporting targets at a beam energy of 145 MeV, provided by the Legnaro XTU tandem accelerator The preliminary analysis has provided a major extension of the known (normal deformed) level scheme in Lu-164, in addition to similar to 7 new, presumably triaxial, SD bands in Lu-164. These bands have dynamical moments of inertia similar to those found in Lu-163,Lu-165. The new data are compared to expectations from calculations with the code "Ultimate Cranker".