Lifetime measurement of the yrast 2+ state in 118Te

The electromagnetic transition probabilities of the yrast 2+ states in the midshell Te isotopes, two protons above the closed shell at Sn, are of great importance for the understanding of nuclear collectivity in these isotopes and the role played by the neutron-proton interactions and crossshell excitations. However, the large uncertainty of the experimental data for the midshell nucleus 118Te and the missing data for 116Te make it difficult to pin down the general trend of the evolution of transition probabilities as a function of the neutron number. In this work, the lifetime of the yrast 2+ state in 118Te was measured, with the aim of reducing the uncertainty of the previous measurement. The result is τ2+ = 7.46(19) ps. In addition, the lifetime of the 4+ state was measured to be τ4+ = 4.25(23) ps. The experimental transition rates are extracted from the measured lifetimes and compared with systematic large-scale shell-model calculations. The trend of the B(E2; 0+ → 2+) values in the midshell area is in good agreement with the calculations and the calculated B4/2 ratio provide evidence for 118Te as a near perfect harmonic vibrator.