Contribution of the radioactive decay to the study of the structure of N=Z nuclei of mass A>70

Radioactive decay study gives an access to the interaction which rules the β decay process as well as the structure of the nuclear states involved. This work describes the observation of the decay of N = Z nuclei with mass A > 70. For the odd-odd N = Z nuclei 78Y, 82Nb and 86Tc, the decay has been established as superallowed Fermi type transitions. The results pave the way for more precise measurements and extend the mass range nowadays used to understand the behaviour of the weak interaction in the nuclear matter. The observation of the decay of the even-even N = Z 72Kr leads us to build the Gamow-Teller strength distribution from which some clues about the ground state deformation of this isotope can be obtained. More complete experimental observation and some developments of the calculations used to interpret the distribution of the Gamow-Teller strength are needed. Finally, this work describes the developments and tests of a prototype detector the aim of which to determine the contribution of β particles to energy distribution observed in germanium detector. The tests we have performed show that this prototype can identify and reject 80% of the β particles emitted by a source with a 2,3 MeV end-point. The very satisfactory performances of this prototype need now to be confirmed under experimental conditions. (author)