5- OCTUPOLE STATES IN ND-146, ND-148 AND SM-148 VIA PROTON-SCATTERING

The cross sections for populating the 2(1)+, 3(1)-, and 5(1)- states of Nd-146,148 and Sm-148 have been determined by inelastic scattering of 26 MeV protons and analyzed using coupled-channels calculations. In these nuclei, the 5(1)- states are usually considered to be ''octupole coupled'' states arising from the coupling of the 2(1)+ and 3(1)- states. It is found that the differential cross sections for excitation of the 5(1)- states are somewhat larger than would be expected for octupole coupled structure. This excess strength can be explained in terms of small admixtures of two-quasiparticle excitations in the 5(1)- states.