Octupole excitations in the N=85 lanthanides

Excited states in Nd-145 and Sm-147 nuclei have been studied using heavy-ion induced reactions. Level schemes of both nuclei are very similar to the level scheme of Gd-149. In analogy to the Gd-149 isotone most of the observed excitations are interpreted as single-particle neutron excitations with octupole vibrations coupled to them. Candidates for double octupole-phonon states were identified in both nuclei.