A search for the γ-decay of the 168Er compound nucleus in the (n, 2γ) reaction

The information derived from the spectra of the two-step γ-cascades proceeding between the compound state of 168Er and its low-lying (Ef < 1,1 MeV) levels is analysed. The data on the most intense cascades resolved experimentally were used to verify and make more precise the already known decay scheme of this nucleus and to extend it to higher excitation energies. The degree of its completeness was estimated numerically for a decay scheme of 91 levels with Eex<3,14 MeV. The total intensities of all the cascades (including those unresolved experimentally but which form continuous parts of the experimental spectra) were used for testing the models which unsuccessfully attempt to explain and describe the cascade γ-decay process in the excitation energy diapason up to the neutron binding energy Bn