Low-lying positive parity bands in 162Yb

. The structure of the low-lying positive parity bands in 162 Yb has been studied at iThemba LABS, using the 150 Sm( 16 O,4n) 162 Yb fusion-evaporation reaction. A band built on the first excited 0 2 + state has been identified for the first time. In addition, we report new rotational levels that form the band structures of both the odd and even spin components of the γ -vibrational band. The first excited 0 2 + band and the even spin members of the γ -vibrational band exhibit a Landau-Zenner crossing. This crossing demonstrates that the significant signature splitting between the odd and even spin members of the γ band is contributed to by band mixing.