γ-Ray yield function has been studied for the proton capture by vanadium in the proton energy range 720–1300 keV. Isobaric analogues of low lying states in⁵²V have been identified. At two resonances theγ-decay andγ-ray angular distributions have been obtained and the branching ratios and the multipole mixing ratios have been deduced. The analogue-antianalogue M1 transition in⁵²Cr is found to be strongly hindered as in other f_7/2 nuclei. TheQ-value obtained for this reaction is (10500±2.8) keV and the Coulomb displacement energy is (8.06±0.01) MeV. An upper limit of 2 meV has been obtained for theα- decay strength of the 11.395 MeV state in⁵²Cr.

Theα-decay of isobaric analogue states (which are forbidden by isospin selection rules) excited in²⁴Mg and²⁸Si through preton capture by²³Na atE_p=677 and 739 keV and by²⁷Al atE_p=295, 327 and 405 keV, respectively, have been studied using solid state track detectors. The ratio ofα-decay widths of the two resonance states in²⁴Mg to the state at 1.632 MeV (2⁺) in²⁰Ne yields the value 0.065 for the mixing parameterε and the value 4.01 keV for the Coulomb matrix element responsible for the isospin mixing in²⁴Mg.

In²⁸Si the measurement of theα-decay widths of the three resonance states resulted in the determination of the proton, gamma and alpha partial widths which comprise the total width of the resonance states. Limits have been set for the value of the two mixing parameters involved in this case. Upper limits of 16 and 39 keV have been obtained for the Coulomb matrix elements responsible for the isospin mixing in²⁸Si.

A plunger set-up has been designed and constructed to measure picosecond nuclear half-lives using recoil distance method (RDM). The system has been used to measure the half-lives of nuclear states in³⁵Cl,^37,38Ar and⁴⁰K. The shortest half-life measured with the system isT_1/2=0.36(14) ps for the 4366 keV (8⁺) state and the longest half-life isT_1/2=1.10(7) ns for the 2543 keV (7⁺) state in⁴⁰K.

Cross-sections for production of evaporation residues from the compound nucleus⁹⁶Ru* formed by fusion reactions²⁸Si+⁶⁸Zn,³²S+⁶⁴Ni,³⁷Cl+⁵⁹Co and⁴⁵Sc+⁵¹V have been obtained from the yields of their characteristicγ-rays. The measurements span an excitation energy range of 55 MeV to 70 MeV of the compound nucleus. The evaporation residue (ER) cross-sections have been analysed in terms of statistical model for the decay of the compound nucleus. A good agreement is found between statistical model calculation and the experimental evaporation residue cross-sections in all the four cases. It is shown that the average angular momentum$$\bar \ell $$ of the compound nucleus can be deduced from a comparison of the experimentally measured and the statistical model predictions for the ER cross-sections. The validity of this method of deriving$$\bar \ell $$ has been discussed for the case of¹⁶O+¹⁵⁴Sm system.