Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 23, 2026

Preparing an Isotopically Pure 229Th Ion Beam for Studies of 229mTh
Published on: May 3, 2019
First observation of ground state dineutron decay: 16Be
A Spyrou1, Z Kohley, T Baumann
1National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA. spyrou@nscl.msu.edu
Abstract:
We report on the first observation of dineutron emission in the decay of 16Be. A single-proton knockout reaction from a 53 MeV/u 17B beam was used to populate the ground state of 16Be. 16Be is bound with respect to the emission of one neutron and unbound to two-neutron emission. The dineutron character of the decay is evidenced by a small emission angle between the two neutrons. The two-neutron separation energy of 16Be was measured to be 1.35(10) MeV, in good agreement with shell model calculations, using standard interactions for this mass region.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Nuclear Stability
To hold positively charged protons together in the...
¹H NMR of Labile Protons: Deuterium (²H) Substitution
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Population Distribution
Nuclear Transmutation
¹³C NMR: ¹H–¹³C Decoupling
A broadband decoupling technique is used to simplify these complex, sometimes overlapping, signals. Broadband decoupling relies on a...
Types of Radioactivity
Alpha (α) decay is the emission of an α particle from the nucleus. For example, polonium-210 undergoes α decay:

