Abstract. Most important for the identification of chiral symmetry in atomic nuclei is to establish a pair of bands that are near-degenerate in energy, but also in B(M 1) and B(E2) transition probabilities. Dedicated lifetime measurements were performed for four bands of 194 Tl, including the pair of four-quasiparticle chiral bands with close near-degeneracy, considered as a prime candidate for best chiral symmetry pair. The lifetime measurements confirm the excellent near-degeneracy in this pair and indicate that a third band may be involved in the chiral symmetry scenario.Chiral systems can exist in nuclei with triaxially deformed shape. Such nuclei rotate collectively predominantly around their intermediate axis. Should the valence nucleons have both particle and hole nature, their singleparticle angular momenta would align along the short and long nuclear axes, respectively. Then the total angular momentum of the nucleus will have large projections along the three major nuclear axes, forming a left-handed or a right-handed systems and exhibiting chiral symmetry.Nuclear chiral symmetry generates a pair of rotational bands with the same parity and with near-degenerate properties; for instance they have similar excitation energies, alignments, and reduced B(M 1) and B(E2) transition probabilities [1]. Most of the chiral bands known to date have been identified based on similarity in the excitation energy and alignments, but very often the most crucial chirality test (see ref.[2]), i.e. the similarity in the B(M 1) and B(E2) transition rates remain outstanding, because it needs dedicated lifetime measurements.The formation of more than one chiral system in the same nucleus is a very rare event. To date chiral multiplets were proposed in only two nuclei, Tl [5], including the only fourquasiparticle chiral pair known to date. This is also the only chiral pair for which chirality persists through a backbend. Furthermore, this chiral pair shows perhaps the best near-degeneracy found to date [6].The 181 Ta( 18 O, 5n) reaction was employed at a beam energy of 91 MeV. The target was a 1 mg/cm 2 181 Ta foil with a thick Bi layer evaporated on the back. The recoils were completely stopped in the Bi backing. The emitted γ-rays were detected with the AFRODITE array [7,8] at iThemba LABS, comprising 9 Compton-suppressed clover detectors, and 6 LEPS detectors. The trigger required 3 coincident γ-rays, with at least two detected in the clovers. Four clover detectors were arranged at 45• , another four were placed at 135• , while the remaining detectors were situated at 90• with respect to the beam direction. Data were sorted into two asymmetric matrices, with the γ-ray energies detected at 45• and at 135• , respectively, stored into one axis, while the coincident γ-ray energies registered at any angle were stored into the second axis. Gated, background-subtracted, forward (45 • ) and backward (135 • ) spectra were used to analyze the Doppler
