Excited Levels inCo61from the Decay ofFe61

Irradiation of enriched ${}_{}{}^{64}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Ni}$ samples with the 14.8-MeV neutrons was found to produce an activity of 5.8±0.5-min half-life which was assigned to ${}_{}{}^{61}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Fe}$. The assignment was confirmed by following the decay of the iron activity separated from the irradiated samples of Spec-pure nickel. The scintillation spectrometer studies showed that $\gamma$ rays of energies 130, 170, 230, 295, 400, 1010, and 1180 keV and $\beta$ groups of maximum energies 2800±100 (31%), 2630±100 (54%), and 2500±100 (13%) keV were decaying with a half-life of 5.8 min. The $\gamma -\gamma$ and the $\beta -\gamma$ coincidence studies were performed which showed the existence of excited levels at 1010, 1180, 1305, and 1410 keV in ${}_{}{}^{61}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Co}$. A decay scheme of ${}_{}{}^{61}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Fe}$ is proposed, and the results are discussed in the light of the single-particle shell model.