Rotational structures and their evolution with spin in Gd-152

The fusion-evaporation reaction involving a 175 MeV S-36 beam and a Sn-124 target was performed, and the emitted gamma rays were observed with the Gammasphere spectrometer. Significant additions to the level scheme of Gd-152 were made in spite of the relative weakness of the alpha 4n exit channel, being only similar to 2% of the total fusion cross-section. The high-spin behavior of Gd-152 was compared with that of other N=88 nuclei. A striking similarity was observed with Dy-154 and it is therefore suggested that the angular-momentum-induced shape changes that take place in Dy-154 also occur in Gd-152 in the 30-40h spin range. This is supported by Cranked Nilsson-Strutinsky calculations which were used to interpret the high-spin bands. It is found that a better agreement between calculation and experiment is obtained if the Z=64 shell gap increases with a decreasing number of valence particles outside the doubly-closed Gd-146(64)82 nucleus