Physics group in front of the controls of an ISOLDE experiment

ISOLDE has for years been a very attractive facility. In 1980 more than 100 scientists from over 20 laboratories in five member states, Canada and the USA were using this Isotope Separator On-Line at the SC to explore the properties of unstable and extremely short-lived atomic nuclei. At the time the team observed the decay of ¹¹Li - lithium with four additional neutrons - which with a half-life of about 10 ms turns into beryllium accompanied by a delayed emission of two neutrons, and they have since found this type of decay also in some sodium isotopes.