Abstract
The electromagnetic properties of low-lying nuclear states are a sensitive probe of both collective and single-particle degrees of freedom in nuclear structure. The recoil-distance technique provides a very reliable, direct and precise method for measuring lifetimes of nuclear states with lifetimes ranging from less than one to several hundred picoseconds. This method complements the powerful, but complicated, heavy-ion induced Coulomb excitation technique for measuring electromagnetic properties. The recoil distance technique has been combined with heavy-ion induced Coulomb excitation to study a variety of problems. Examples discussed are: study of the two-phonon triplet in (110)Pd, coupling of the β and γ degrees of freedom in (182,184)W, highly deformed γ bands in (165)Ho, octupole collectivity in (96)Zr, and opposite parity states in (153)Eu. Consistency between the Coulomb excitation results and the lifetime measurements confirms the reliability of the complex analysis often encountered in heavy-ion induced Coulomb excitation work.