Highly deformed and triaxial structures in 134Ce

High-spin states were populated in ¹³⁴Ce using the ¹²⁴Sn(¹⁶O,6n) reaction at beam energies of 120 and 125 MeV. We have observed three new, weakly populated, regularly spaced rotational bands, one with an energy spacing of ~60 keV and two with a spacing of ~100 keV. These bands are compared with similar structures in neighboring nuclei. The experimental data are also compared with total Routhian surface and cranked Woods-Saxon calculations. The band with the narrower energy spacing is assigned as a highly deformed structure with a ν[(i_13/2)³⊗f_7/2] configuration relative to the N=72 shell gap at a deformation of β₂~0.4. The remaining two structures are thought to result from triaxial configurations with β₂~0.2 and γ~-30°.