Résumé : Absolute electromagnetic transition probabilities in Po196 have been measured using the recoil distance Doppler-shift technique. The lifetimes of the three lowest yrast states in Po196 were extracted from singles γ-ray spectra by using the recoil-decay tagging method. In addition, configuration mixing calculations of angular momentum projected mean-field states have been carried out for Po196. The present study sheds light on the onset of collectivity and mixing of competing structures in neutron-deficient Po nuclei. © 2009 The American Physical Society.