New Decay Studies of $^{66}$Ga

High-energy $\gamma$ rays with energies up to 5.0 MeV are emitted in the radioactive decay of $^{66}$Ga (T$_{1/2}$=9.49 h). Thus, this radionuclide appears to be a suitable candidate for energy and efficiency calibrations of high-resolution, $\gamma$-ray spectrometers that are employed in studies of very neutron-rich nuclei which have large Q$_{\beta}$ values. In addition, accurate emission probabilities of this isotope are of interest to medical imaging applications, owing to the existence of large $\beta^{+}$ decay branches, which need to be characterized with better accuracy. Decay studies of $^{66}$Ga were initiated using the $\gamma$-ray spectroscopy technique. The source was produced by means of the $^{66}$Zn(p,n) reaction at a beam energy of 12 MeV. Singles and $\gamma-\gamma$ coincidences measurements were carried out using a single Ge detector and Gammasphere, respectively. The previously known $^{66}$Ga decay scheme was extended and many new $\gamma$ rays were placed in the daughter nuclide $^{66}$Zn.\\[4pt] The work at ANL was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Physics, under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. S. Kumar acknowledges support from the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum for the award of a Research Fellowship.