The Negative Parity Bands in $^{156}$Gd
  The high flux reactor of the Institut Laue-Langevin is the world most intense neutron source for research. Using the ultra high-resolution crystal spectrometers GAMS installed at the in-pile target position H6/H7 it is possible to measure nuclear state lifetimes using the Gamma Ray Induced Recoil (GRID) technique. In bent crystal mode, the spectrometers allow to perform spectroscopy with a dynamic range of up to six orders magnitude. At a very well collimated external neutron beam it is possible to install a highly efficient germanium detector array to obtain coincidences and angular correlations. The mentioned techniques were used to study the first two negative parity bands in $^{156}$Gd. These bands have been in the focus of interest since they seem to show signatures of a tetrahedral symmetry. A surprisingly high B(E2) value of about 1000 W.u. for the $4^- \rightarrow 2^-$ transition was discovered. It indicates that the two first negative parity bands cannot be considered to be signature partners. 
Michael Jentschel, Loic Sengele, Dominique Curien, Jerzy Dudek and   Florent Haas
nucl-ex