Nuclear Physics A 764 (2006) 42–78 Complete spectroscopy of the 162 Dy nucleus A. Aprahamian a,∗ , X. Wu a , S.R. Lesher a,1 , D.D. Warner b , W. Gelletly c , H.G. Börner d , F. Hoyler d , K. Schreckenbach d , R.F. Casten e , Z.R. Shi f , D. Kusnezov e , M. Ibrahim e , A.O. Macchiavelli g , M.A. Brinkman h , J.A. Becker h a Institute for Structure & Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA b Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington, WA4 4AD, United Kingdom c University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 5XH, United Kingdom d Institut Laue-Langevin, F-38042 Grenoble, France e Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA f Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing, PR China g Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA h Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA Received 29 April 2005; received in revised form 15 September 2005; accepted 26 September 2005 Available online 2 November 2005 Abstract States in 162 Dy have been populated by (n, γ ), (n, e − ), and (α, 2n) reactions in order to characterize a complete set of low K bands below 2 MeV. The (n, γ ) and (n, e − ) measurements were made using high precision curved crystal and β − spectrometers. Gamma–gamma coincidence and DCO measurements were made following the (α, 2n) reaction using an array of Compton-suppressed Ge detectors. Using all these data and employing the Ritz combination principle, a level scheme was developed which represents one of the most complete and extensive spectra of levels available for comparison with nuclear models. The observed positive and negative parity bands are discussed in terms of collective quadrupole and octupole vibrational excitations as well as 2 quasi-particle excitations.  2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 23.20.Lv; 23.20.En; 23.20.Gq; 21.10.-k * Corresponding author. E-mail address: ani.aprahamian.1@nd.edu (A. Aprahamian). 1 Present address: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Instituut voor Kernen Stralingsfysica, Clesetijnelaan 200D, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium. 0375-9474/$ – see front matter  2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2005.09.020