Search for a spontaneous fission branch in a metastable state of 214Cm

Decay properties of Bk97243 and Bk97244

“…In the present work we do not observe any of the γ rays seen in the decay of the low-spin 244 Am isomer [15,16], which suggests that the ground-state spin of 244 Bk is 3h or higher. We observe the γ rays depopulating the 6 + state at 1040.2 keV [8] with a very low EC intensity (≤2.0%) indicating that it is not directly fed with high EC intensity. This limits the spin of the Although a γ-γ coincidence experiment was performed with a 244 Bk source in Ref.…”

“…[3,6]. The 744.1and 897.7-keV γ rays, assigned to the 244 Bk decay, also occur in the the β − -decay of the 10.1-h 244 Am [8]. However, these γ rays cannot be due to 244 Am, because it cannot be produced by the 241 Am(α,xn) reaction used in this study.…”

“…[3], level energies in 244 Cm were derived from the measured γ-ray energies but their spins and parities, and configurations could not be deduced because the conversion coefficients were not measured. Many levels in 244 Cm are known from β − decays of the two 244 Am isomers [8,15,16]. The low-spin isomer populates low-spin states up to spin 2h in 244 Cm and the high-spin isomer decays to a K,I π = 6,6 + state at 1040.2 keV which deexcites to the 6 + and 4 + members of the 244 Cm ground-state band.…”