Radiative strength functions (RSFs) in 93−98 Mo have been extracted using the ( 3 He,αγ) and ( 3 He, 3 He ′ γ) reactions. The RSFs are U-shaped as function of γ energy with a minimum at around Eγ = 3 MeV. The minimum values increase with neutron number due to the increase in the lowenergy tail of the giant electric dipole resonance with nuclear deformation. The unexpected strong increase in strength below Eγ = 3 MeV, here called soft pole, is established for all 93−98 Mo isotopes. The soft pole is present at all initial excitation energies in the 5 − 8 MeV region.

Fluctuation properties have been analyzed for a large collection of low-lying nuclear energy levels, with emphasis on the nearest-neighbor spacing distributions. The levels are combined in several ways to search for effects due to mass, spin, and shape. A strong mass dependence appears to be present, and there are suggestions of effects due to spin and deformation.

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