α-decay study of ^182,184Tl

α-decay spectroscopy of Tl has been performed at the CERN isotope separator on-line (ISOLDE) facility. New fine-structure α decays have been observed for both isotopes. α-decay branching ratios of 0.089(19)%, 0.047(6)% and 1.22(30)% have been deduced for the (10^-), (7⁺) and (2^-) states respectively in ¹⁸⁴Tl and a lower limit of 0.49% for the α-decay branching ratio of ¹⁸²Tl. A new half-life of 9.5(2) s for the (2^-) state in ¹⁸⁴Tl and 1.9(1) s for the low-spin state in ¹⁸²Tl has been deduced. Using α-γ coincidence analysis, multiple γ rays were observed de-exciting levels in Au fed by Tl α decays. The γ transitions connecting these low-lying states in Au are essential to sort the data and possibly identify bands from in-beam studies in these isotopes. Owing to the complex fine-structure α decays and limited knowledge about the structure of the daughter nuclei, only partial level schemes could be constructed for both gold isotopes in the present work. Reduced α-decay widths have been calculated and are compared with values obtained in neighboring odd-A and even-A thallium isotopes. Except for the allowed α decay of the ¹⁸⁴Tl (10^-) state, the other fine-structure α decays observed in this study are hindered. This points to strong structural changes between parent thallium and daughter gold isotopes.