Population of high-spin states in ²³⁴U by an incomplete-fusion reaction

Excited states in ²³⁴U have been populated using the incomplete-fusion reaction ²³²Th(⁹Be, α3n) at 52 MeV. The emitted γ rays were observed using the CAESAR array, while the α particles were detected with an array of 14 plastic scintillator detectors of phoswich type. This reaction can populate ²³⁴U at higher spin than the conventional ²³²Th(α, 2n) reaction because the "⁵He" fragment from breakup of the beam can be viewed as initiating a ²³²Th(⁵He,3n) reaction. Similar reactions could provide a valuable alternative technique for the study of relatively heavy, neutron-rich isotopes. In the present work, states in the ground-state band of ²³⁴U were observed up to J^π=18⁺ and previous tentative observations of (9^-) and (11^-) states in the octupole band were confirmed. A new state at 1366 keV, which is possibly the 8⁺ member of the γ band, has also been identified.