20 μs isomeric state in doubly odd _{61}^{134}Pm

Recoil-isomer tagging at the Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyvaumlskylauml has been used to establish the isomeric nature of a known (7(-)) excited state in the doubly odd nucleus Pm-134. The isomeric state was determined to have a half-life of 20(1) mu s and was populated from the decay of a pi h(11/2)circle times nu h(11/2) band using the Mo-92(Fe-54,2 alpha 3pn) reaction at 305 and 315 MeV. The isomer decays by a 71-keV transition that provides an intermediate step in linking the established Pm-134 high-spin level scheme to the lower-spin states observed from the beta decay of Sm-134. Electron-conversion analysis for the 71-keV gamma-ray transition reveals that it is of E1 character and its small reduced-transition probability suggests that Pm-134 may have a nuclear shape more rigid than that of the neighboring nuclei.