Coexistence of symmetric and asymmetric shapes in 145Ba,145La

A new region of stable octupole deformation was predicted to occur with its center around the reinforcing shell gaps for β3∼0.15 at Z=56, N=88, and with 56145Ba89 was predicted to be a prime candidate for stable octupole deformation. Evidence for stable octupole deformation was found in 144Ba, 146Ce and expanded to include odd-A 143Ba and other neighboring isotopes but was not observed in 145Ba. Recently we found evidence for the rotational enhancement of stable octupole deformation in 145,147La. In a reinvestigation of 145Ba, two new bands were discovered that are connected by enhanced, intertwined E1 transitions to two different previously known bands in 145Ba. These new data support the predicted presence of octupole deformation in 145Ba, which is rotation-enhanced above about spin 19/2. In both 145La and 145Ba, the low spin ground bands are built on a symmetric rotor shape and at intermediate spins there are shifts to the yrast bands having asymmetric octupole shape. These are the first examples of th...