The population of the high-spin isomers in ${}^{139}$Nd and ${}^{140}$Nd was investigated using the ${}^{96}$Zr(${}^{48}$Ca,$xn$) reaction and the JUROGAM + RITU + GREAT setup employing the recoil decay tagging technique. Three transitions feeding the 23/2${}^{+}$ isomer in ${}^{139}$Nd and two transitions feeding the 20${}^{+}$ isomer in ${}^{140}$Nd were identified. The newly observed transitions allowed the excitation energy of the isomer to be established in ${}^{139}$Nd and to assign configurations to the states and bands deexcited by the observed transitions in both nuclei.

• Received 31 January 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.87.064303