Yrast Superdeformed Band in 59Cu

High-spin states in Cu-59 were populated using the fusion-evaporation reactions Si-28+ Ca-40 at a beam energy of 125 MeV and Ar-36+Si-28 at a beam energy of 143 MeV. The Gammasphere array in conjunction with ancillary detector systems allowed for the identification of a superdeformed rotational band in Cu-59, which was firmly linked to low-spin yrast states. Using directional correlations of oriented states, a spin-parity assignment of I-pi=25/2(+) to the band head was possible. The average quadrupole moment of the band is measured to be Q(t)=(2.24+/-0.40) e b. The characteristics of the band are compared to neighboring nuclei and predictions of different mean-field theories