Gamma-ray strength-function measurements at ELBE

Dipole-strength functions up to the neutron-separation energies S_n of the N=50 isotones 88Sr, 89Y, 90Zr and the even-mass Mo isotopes from 92Mo to 100Mo have been studied in photon-scattering experiments using the bremsstrahlung facility at the superconducting electron accelerator ELBE of the Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf. To estimate the distribution of inelastic transitions from high-lying levels at high level density to low-lying levels, simulations of gamma-ray cascades were performed. On the basis of these simulations intensities of inelastic transitions were subtracted from the experimental intensity distributions, including the resolved peaks as well as a continuous part formed by unresolved transitions, and the intensities of elastic transitions to the ground state were corrected for their branching ratios. The combination of our gamma,gamma data with (gamma,n) data gives novel information about the dipole-strength functions in the whole energy range from about 4 MeV up to the giant dipole resonance (GDR). They show that
(i) there is extra strength in the energy range from about 6 to about 12 MeV with respect to simple Lorentzian-like approximations of the tail of the GDR,
(ii) the accumulated dipole-strength in the energy range from about 6 to 12 MeV grows with increasung neutron number in the chain of Mo isotopes.
Calculations in the framework of a quasiparticle-random-phase approximation (QRPA) in a deformed Woods-Saxon basis describe the increase of strength towards the heavier Mo isotopes as a consequence of growing nuclear deformation.