Coulomb excitation has been proved as a powerful tool to study the electrom
agnetic structure of the nuclei. In particular this method is able to deter
mine large sets of electric and magnetic multipole matrix elements, giving
an insight into the overall structure of the nuclei in the low- energy and
relatively low-spin excitation region. This application of multiple Coulomb
excitation is exploited since almost two decades. In this contribution we
would like to concentrate on a different usage of the Coulomb excitation te
chnique - addressing specific physical problems by choosing the experimenta
l conditions in a way that enhances the sensitivity to the effect under inv
estigation. As an example the direct measurement of the E3 coupling between
gamma-vibrational and pseudo-beta-vibrational bands in Nd-148 is discussed
. The results presented demonstrate how relatively simple measurement can b
e designed to investigate non-trivial phenomena.