Accepted Thursday Nov 05, 2009
Excited states in have been identified for the first time using the 106Cd(60Ni,3p) fusion evaporation reaction. Gamma rays were detected by the JUROGAM g-ray spectrometer and recoil discrimination was achieved by utilising the RITU gas-filled separator in conjunction with the GREAT spectrometer situated at the focal plane of RITU. The yrast states are assigned to a strongly-coupled rotational band based on a ph11/2 configuration. This structure exhibits a large signature splitting at low spins which disappears after the paired band crossing due to the alignment of a pair of i13/2 neutrons. This effect is ascribed to triaxial shape changes induced by the core polarizing properties of the deformation aligned h11/2 proton and the rotational aligned i13/2 neutrons. Two additional strongly coupled band structures have been established and are discussed in terms of octupole-vibrational and two-quasiparticle excitations built on the yrast structure. The experimental results are compared with predictions from cranked-shell model and total Routhian surface calculations.