The decay out of the yrast and excited highly deformed (HD) bands in ${}^{134}$Nd has been investigated via the ${}^{28}\mathrm{Si}{+}^{110}\mathrm{Pd}$ reaction at 130 MeV using the GASP array. Several deexcitation pathways have been established for both the yrast and excited HD bands. The resulting spins remove previous ambiguities in the assignment of the excited HD band and confirm the structure assigned to the yrast HD band. The decay out is understood in terms of mixing between the normal-deformed and HD states, which is triggered by the crossing between the $\nu i_{13/2}$ and $\nu d_{5/2}$ orbitals.

• Received 25 January 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.239