A THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE ON TRIGGERED GAMMA EMISSION FROM ¹⁷⁸Hf^m2 ISOMER

A number of applications have been proposed concerning the isomers, including the creation of a gamma-ray laser, since some of them may store large amounts of energy for long times. Against this background, the field of triggered gamma emission is entering a new phase in which improved level data allow targeting of specific potentially-useful transitions. In the present work, the configuration-constrained (diabatic blocking) calculations, with inclusion of γ-deformation, are performed to study the multi quasi-particle (multi-qp) excitations of ¹⁷⁸Hf. The detailed excitation energies known in ¹⁷⁸Hf are reasonably reproduced. From our calculations, two levels besides the existing level at 2.573 MeV are found for candidates of these intermediate states (or called depletion levels). Whether these two excited states actually exist will require additional experimentation.