High-spin yrast structure of 159Ho

An investigation of the yrast structure of the odd-Z {sup 159}Ho nucleus to high spin has been performed. The {sup 159}Ho nucleus was populated by the reaction {sup 116}Cd({sup 48}Ca,p4n{gamma}) at a beam energy of 215 MeV, and resulting {gamma} decays were detected by the Gammasphere spectrometer. The h{sub 11/2} yrast band has been significantly extended up to I{sup {pi}=}75/2{sup -} (tentatively 79/2{sup -}). A lower frequency limit for the second (h{sub 11/2}){sup 2} proton alignment was extracted consistent with the systematics of this alignment frequency, indicating an increased deformation with neutron number in the Ho isotopes. The energy-level splitting between the signature partners in the h{sub 11/2} structures of the Ho isotopes and the neighboring N=92 isotones is discussed.