Yrast states with spins as high as 22 have been identified in 76Kr with the reactions 58Ni(24Mg,~2p) at ii0 MeV and4~176 at 155 MeV. Simultaneous band crossings due to g9/2 proton and neutron quasiparticles have been o~served in the frequency range 0.60_-~w!0.75 MeV. The moment of inertia increases rapidly at the crossing frequency. The systematics of proton and neutron alignments in the Kr isotopes are discussed.The light Kr, Rb and Sr isotopes with NzZ lie in one of the few domains of the Periodic Table which offer the possibility to study the interplay of protons and neutrons in the same high-j single-particle orbit I. The rich variety of spectroscopic phenomena in this mass region, e.g. very large quadrupole deformations of ~2=0.35-0.45, triaxiality and/or shape coexistence and the suppression of pairing correlations, has been partially associated with the single particle structure of g9/2 protons and neutrons I'6. It is, however, still a matter of controversy whether the lowest two quasiparticle bands (2clp) in the eveneven isotopes are due to the alignment of g9/2 protons or neutrons. The very short lifetimes of states in the band crossing regions (T~I ps) have so far prevented magnetic moment measurements which would clearly reveal the nature of the aligning particles. Without g factors, we must look at the systematics of alignments in the neighboring nuclei in order to understand their structure. Motivated by recent results in the neighboring N=40 isotones 75Br, 77Rb, and 78Sr 4-5, we have now investigated high spin states in76Kr an the region above spin 12" 9 , which had not been reached in lighter ion induced reactions 7-8, and have observed an unusual band crossing.High spin states in 76Kr were populated with the reactions 58Ni(Z4Mg,~2p) at ii0 MeV and 4~176 at 155 MeV using the NSF tandem Van de Graaff at Daresbury Laboratory. In the 58Ni + 24Mg experiment, 15 BGO shielded Compton suppressed Ge detectors were placed in azimuthally sym-
