Shape Coexistence in Light Krypton Isotopes

Coexisting states of prolate and oblate shapes were studied via Coulomb excitation of radioactive 74Kr and 76Kr beams at safe energies at GANIL. The results for the transitional E2 matrix elements for several yrast transitions in both isotopes are in contradiction with the B(E2) values extracted from the lifetimes that are found in the literature. This motivated a new lifetime measurement which showed strong deviations from the previously published values, but is consistent with the results from Coulomb excitation. Having resolved these discrepancies and knowing the B(E2) values with high precision allows to extract the diagonal matrix elements from the Coulomb excitation data. The results confirm the proposed shape coexistence scenario.