Fission isomerism induced by helium ions

Delayed fission events due to isomeric fission have been produced using He³ and He⁴ beams from the MP Tandem Van de Graaff accelerator. The isomeric nuclei which recoil from the target and subsequently fission in flight were detected by a square cone array of polycarbonate foil detectors mounted along the beam direction. From the distribution of fission tracks along the detector foils, half-lives in the nanosecond region were deduced.