New neutron-rich isotopes of astatine and bismuth

Neutron-rich isotopes of astatine have been produced through spallation reactions with 600 MeV protons on a232Th target and identified by spectroscopic techniques combined with one-line mass separation at the ISOLDE facility. The half-lives of218At and219At have been remeasured to be 1.5(3) s and 57(4) s, respectively. Four new isotopes of astatine,220−223At, have been observed for the first time, and their half-lives were found to be 3.73(13) min, 2.3(2) min, 54(10) s, and 50(7) s, respectively. Another nuclide,216Bi, has been observed for the first time as the daughter product of the220At alpha decay, and its half-life has been measured to be 6.6(21) min.