Investigation of neutron deficient Zr and Nb nuclei with heavy ion induced compound reactions

³²S and¹²C induced compound reactions on Fe, Ni and Se targets have been used to produce neutron deficient nuclei in the mass region 84≦A ≦87. In-beam γ-ray spectroscopy consisting of the measurement of excitation functions, γγ coincidences and γ-ray angular distributions has been performed. The following level energies and spin-parity values have been deduced:⁸⁴Zr: 540 keV, 2⁺; 1262.8, (4⁺); 2137.2, (6⁺); 3089.2⁸⁶Zr: 751.9, 2⁺; 1666.6, (4⁺); 2670.0, (6⁺); 2705.5, (5); 3271.3; 3298.5, (8⁺); 3423.5, (7); 3531.5, (10⁺); 3645.9; 4326.1; 4417.3 Half-lives and energies of γ-rays from the residual activities have been measured. The existence of three new isotopes could be established by their radioactive decay:⁸⁴Nb(12±3 s)→⁸⁴Zr⁸⁶Nb(80±12 s)→⁸⁶Zr⁸⁷Mo(14.6±1.5 s)→⁸⁷Nb→⁸⁷Zr