Yrast excitations of heavy tin region nuclei

Thick target γγ coincidence measurements have been used to explore the spectroscopy of neutron-rich Z ~ 50 nuclei formed in deep inelastic heavy ion reactions. Yrast isomers in 119 Sn, 121 Sn and 123 Sn have been identified among the products of heavy ion collisions with 124 Sn targets 10-15% above the Coulomb barrier, and isomeric decay schemes are reported. For ( vh 11/2 ) n seniority-3 states, the observed level energies agree closely with the results of fractional parentage calculations.