Low-energy photon scattering off 142,146,148,150Nd: An investigation in the mass region of a nuclear shape transition

Nuclear resonance fluorescence experiments have been performed on the nuclei 142,146,148,150Nd, which are located in the mass region of a nuclear shape transition from a spherical (142Nd) to a well-deformed shape (150Nd). Bremsstrahlung of 4.1 MeV endpoint energy served as the photon source. The scattered photons were detected by high-resolution Ge-spectrometers. Precise excitation energies, decay branching ratios, and ground-state decay widths of numerous new spin-1 states have been extracted. (orig.)