Investigation of even-even Gd nuclei using the (p, t) reaction

Gadolinium nuclei between A=152 and A=158 undergo a rapid shape change, from spherical to deformed and are therefore interesting in nuclear physics studies. Experiments were performed at the 88 inch Cyclotron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory using the STARS (Si-Telescope Array for Reaction Studies)/ Liberace (Livermore Berkeley Array for Collaborative Experiments) setup. Targets of 154Gd, 155Gd, 156Gd, and 158Gd were bombarded with 25 MeV protons. My research focused on 152Gd, 154Gd, 156Gd nuclei populated via (p, t) reactions and the work utilized a triton-gamma matrix for each nucleus. I am interested in the high energy ($\ge $2.5MeV nucleus excitation energy) part of the triton spectrum when gated by different low lying (yrast and non-yrast) gamma rays which I examined by measuring the slope. I also studied the position and intensity of the large peak-like structure lying close to the pair gap at 2.5 MeV and how it changes for N = 88, 90, and 92. DOE: DE-FG02-05 ER41379 {\&} DE-FG52-06 NA26206 (UR), DE-AC52 -7NA27344 (LLNL), and DE-AC02-05CH11231 (LBNL).