We identify the $J^{\pi }{=2\mathrm{}}_3^{+}$ state of ${}^{96}\mathrm{Ru}$ as the proton-neutron mixed-symmetry $2_{\mathrm{ms}}^{+}$ state of this nucleus. This identification is based on the measurement of the transition strengths ${B(M1,2\mathrm{}}_3^{+}\to 2_1^{+})=0.78\mathrm{}(23)\mathrm{}\hspace{0.5em}{\mu }_N^2$ and ${B(E2;2\mathrm{}}_3^{+}\to 0_1^{+})=1.6\mathrm{}(3)\mathrm{}$ W.u. These transition strengths were obtained from the Coulomb excitation yield for the population of the $2_3^{+}$ state relative to the yield of the $2_1^{+}$ state with known $E2\mathrm{}$ excitation strength. The Coulomb excitation was done in inverse kinematics using the reaction ${}^{\mathrm{nat}}\mathrm{C}{(}^{96}\mathrm{Ru}{,}^{96}{\mathrm{Ru}}^{\star })$ at 280 MeV. This work demonstrates the accessibility of the isovector quadrupole excitation in the valence shell using experiments with an accelerated beam of the nuclei of interest.

• Received 27 February 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.64.031301