A new method of extracting the γ-ray intensities necessary to perform lifetime measurements using the differential decay curve method (DDCM) is presented in this work, the unresolved Doppler-shifted components method (UDCM). The UDCM allows for a DDCM analysis to be performed using a γ-ray transition for which the fully Doppler-shifted and degraded components are unresolvable in energy and so are detected as a single peak. This technique was used to measure the known lifetime of the yrast 21+ state in 50Mn with a depopulating transition that does not have resolvable fully Doppler-shifted and degraded components. The lifetime measured through applying the UDCM was consistent with the standard DDCM measurement of the 21+ state. Use of the UDCM allows for DDCM lifetime measurements to be made using transitions of smaller γ-ray energies, smaller recoil velocities and, in some cases, with a smaller uncertainty. In contrast to a standard DDCM analysis, a UDCM analysis is also independent of the widths of the fully Doppler-shifted and degraded components and as a result they do not need to be determined.

The neutron-deficient mercury isotopes serve as a classical example of shape coexistence, whereby at low energy near-degenerate nuclear states characterized by different shapes appear. The electromagnetic structure of even-mass 182-188 Hg isotopes was studied using safe-energy Coulomb excitation of neutron-deficient mercury beams delivered by the REX-ISOLDE facility at CERN. The population of \\($ 0^\+\\_\1,2\\$\)01,2+, \\($ 2^\+\\_\1,2\\$\)21,2+and \\($ 4^\+\\_\1\\$\)41+states was observed in all nuclei under study. Reduced E2 matrix elements coupling populated yrast and non-yrast states were extracted, including their relative signs. These are a sensitive probe of shape coexistence and may be used to validate nuclear models. The experimental results are discussed in terms of mixing of two different configurations and are compared with three different model calculations: the Beyond Mean Field model, the Interacting Boson Model with configuration mixing and the General Bohr Hamiltonian. Partial agreement with experiment was observed, hinting to missing ingredients in the theoretical descriptions.