Previously developed Zn decay schemes were limited by a number of factors including low production rates and detector efficiencies making it impossible to place weak transitions. Furthermore, most of the published results are from initial exploratory measurements while subsequent studies in this region either ignored the data obtained from the Zn decays or was not analyzed due to the focus on more exotic nuclei. In the current experiments, a nearly pure beam of the Cu isotope was provided by the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF) for the study of the Cu -> Zn -> Ga -> Ge β-decay chain using the Low-energy Radioactive Ion Beam Spectroscopy Station (LeRIBSS) setup. The high efficiency of the detector system along with the nearly pure primary beam allowed a detailed study of the γ-ray emission from the decay chain without any member of the decay chain being dominant. The γγ and βγ gamma coincidence data obtained from the experiment was used to develop revised decay schemes in which statistical significance for each observed coincidence peak was determined quantitatively. Presented in this work are updated and expanded decay schemes with new energy levels along with new βeeding intensities and logft values for the Zn -> Ga decays. In each of the Zn decays, a number of new energy levels and transitions have been proposed to the structure of respective Ga isotopes in addition to correcting discrepancies from previous works. The 74Zn β decay now has 29 new γ rays assigned to 74Ga in addition to previous 35 transitions (Winger et al., 1989} depopulating 19 energy states, including 7 new ones. The maximum level energy is increased from previous 1086- to 1555-keV. Similarly, the updated 75Zn decay scheme has its level energy increased from previous (Ekstrom et al., 1986) 3209- to 3924-keV, with addition of 37 new energy levels and 53 new γ rays. New decay scheme for 76Zn is established up to 2603 keV, similar to previous literature (Ekstrom et al.) with addition of 4 new energy levels and total of 5 new γ-ray transitions. In case of 77Zn decay, we proposed the decay scheme up to 3948 keV with addition of 8 new energy levels and 10 new γ-ray transitions.

Nuclei at closed shells tend to be spherical and are well-described by the shell model, while those between closed shells are deformed and better described by collective models. The nuclei which are in transitional regions between spherical and deformed may be studied to gain insight into the nature of this transition. The stable isotopes of zirconium and xenon span such transitional regions and are the subject of this dissertation. Gamma-ray spectroscopy following inelastic neutron scattering has been performed on the stable isotopes of Zr as well as 132,134Xe at the University of Kentucky Accelerator Laboratory. Level lifetimes have been measured using the Doppler-shift attenuation method, which allow the determination of transition probabilities that are of utmost importance in elucidating the structure of these nuclei. The lifetime measurements were the focus of the study of the Zr isotopes. Previously measured level lifetimes in 94Zr by our group were called into question by recent electron scattering experiments. This motivated a re-measurement of these lifetimes and led to a study of the role of the chemical properties of the scattering samples employed in the measurements. Various Zr-containing compounds were characterized with powder X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy and were employed as scattering samples. These studies revealed the impact of using amorphous materials and those composed of small particles as scattering samples on the resulting lifetimes, and has important implications for future lifetime measurements employing the Doppler-shift attenuation method. For the xenon experiments, highly enriched (>99.9%) 132Xe and 134Xe gases were converted to solid 132XeF2 and 134XeF2, and were used as scattering samples. The xenon isotopes have not been particularly well-studied as elemental targets are gases under ambient conditions, which introduces difficulties into the measurements. Much new information was obtained for these nuclei, including the placement of many new transitions and levels, and measurement of many new level lifetimes, allowing the determination of reduced transition probabilities. This additional information provided important insight into the structure of these two transitional nuclei.