K isomers in Cm isotopes via deep-inelastic and transfer reactions

K isomers in $^{246}$Cm and $^{248}$Cm (Z = 96) were populated via deep-inelastic and transfer reactions using a $^{209}$Bi beam at $\sim $ 15{\%} above the Coulomb barrier, incident on a long-lived $^{248}$Cm target. This reaction mechanism has been employed for the first time in trans-plutonium nuclei to study high-K isomers. The out-of-beam data were collected using Gammasphere in different time regimes ranging from 80 microseconds up to 8 seconds to adjust to different isomer half-lives. The half-life of a known 8$^{-}$ isomeric state in $^{246}$Cm has been measured to be $\sim $ 1 s. A new high-K isomer with K$^{\pi }$ = (8$^{-})$ has also been discovered in $^{248}$Cm. These K$^{\pi }$ = 8$^{-}$ isomers have the same underlying neutron [624]7/2 x [734]9/2 configuration as is observed in the isotones $^{250}$Fm and $^{252}$No. These new data on high-K isomers will add to the limited knowledge of single-particle and pair-gap energies in heavy actinides.