Coulomb Excitation of Neodymium

Three gamma rays produced by bombardment of neodymium metal with protons of energies up to 3.34 Mev have been observed. Measurements indicate gamma-ray energies and isotopic identifications of 71±4 kev from ${\mathrm{Nd}}^{145}$, 300±3 kev from ${\mathrm{Nd}}^{148}$, and 131±2 kev from ${\mathrm{Nd}}^{150}$, with total cross sections for production of the last two radiations of 0.7±0.2 and 2.4±0.3 mb, respectively, for 2.25-Mev protons. Excitation functions found for the even-even iostopes agree with those predicted for $E2\mathrm{}$ Coulomb interactions, leading to 0→2+→0 level assignments; $E1\mathrm{}$ excitation seems ruled out only for ${\mathrm{Nd}}^{150}$. The theory of Alder and Winther for $E2\mathrm{}$ excitation gives only qualitative agreement with the measured 131-kev gamma-ray angular distribution. Low-energy proton bremsstrahlung were also observed.