The 257 MeV 19/2/sup -/ two-phonon octupole state in /sup 147/Gd

The half-life of the (vf/sub 7/2/*3/sup -/*3/sup -/)/sub 19/2-/ two- phonon octupole states at 2.572 MeV in /sup 147/Gd was measured as T /sub 1/2/=0.37(8) ns, which gives a transition strength of 52(15) WU for the 1525 keV E3 transition to the 0.997 MeV (vf/sub 7/2/*3/sup -/) /sub 13/2+/ one transition to the 0.997 MeV ( nu f/sub 7/2/*3/sup -/) /sub 13/2+/ one phonon excitation. The nu i/sub 13/2/ admixture in the 13/2/sup +/ one-phonon state, as well as the dominant pi h/sub 11/2/d /sub 5//sup -1/2/ component of the /sup 146/Gd 3/sup -/ state give rise to large anharmonicities for the two-phonon excitation. An estimate of the energy shifts based on empirical coupling matrix elements gives 2.66 MeV excitation for the 19/2/sup -/ two-phonon state, in good agreement with the observed energy of that state. (9 refs).