Count fluctuation analysis in the triaxial strongly deformed potential well of 163Lu

High-spin properties of the triaxial strongly deformed potential well in 163Lu at excitation energies above resolvable bands have been investigated. Gated Eγ-Eγ spectra display clear ridges with moments of inertia corresponding to those observed for the discrete strongly deformed bands. A fluctuation analysis of the ridges yields a number of two-step paths of ≈ 40 and ≈ 20, when gating on triaxial strongly or normally deformed bands, respectively. These results show that a potential well at large deformation coexists with the normally deformed well, and indicate a mixing between states in the two wells at higher excitation energy.