A very exotic process of -delayed fission of 180 Tl is studied in detail by using resonant laser ionization with subsequent mass separation at ISOLDE (CERN). In contrast to common expectations, the fissionfragment mass distribution of the post--decay daughter nucleus 180 Hg (N=Z ¼ 1:25) is asymmetric. This asymmetry is more surprising since a mass-symmetric split of this extremely neutron-deficient nucleus would lead to two 90 Zr fragments, with magic N ¼ 50 and semimagic Z ¼ 40. This is a new type of asymmetric fission, not caused by large shell effects related to fragment magic proton and neutron numbers, as observed in the actinide region. The newly measured branching ratio for -delayed fission of 180 Tl is 3:6ð7Þ Â 10 À3 %, approximately 2 orders of magnitude larger than in an earlier study. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.252502 PACS numbers: 24.75.+i, 23.40.Às, 27.70.+q Nuclear fission, discovered more than 70 years ago [1], represents one of the most dramatic examples of a nuclear metamorphosis, whereby the nucleus splits into two fragments releasing a large amount of energy. Initially, the fission process was described within the liquid-drop model [2,3], in which shape-dependent surface and Coulomb energy terms define the potential-energy landscape through which fission occurs. However, this macroscopic approach naturally leads to symmetric fragments and cannot explain observed asymmetric mass splits of actinides. Only by including a microscopic treatment based on shell effects can asymmetric fission be described [4]. Importantly, only in fission below or slightly above the barrier, so-called low-energy fission, can the interplay between the macroscopic liquid-drop contribution and the microscopic single-particle shell corrections be most fully explored.Until recently, such low-energy fission studies were limited to nuclei from around thorium (Th) to fermium (Fm) using spontaneous fission, fission induced by thermal neutrons or -delayed fission. These studies showed the dominance of asymmetric fission over symmetric fission for most isotopes of these elements [5][6][7] and suggested that structure effects due to, specifically, the spherical shell structure of doubly magic 132 Sn dominate the mass split. A decade ago, a new technique, developed at GSI [8]-Coulomb-excited fission of radioactive beamsallowed for a more extensive experimental survey of lowenergy fission in other regions of the nuclidic chart. These studies demonstrated the transition from mostly asymmetric fission in the actinides towards symmetric fission as the dominant mode in the light thorium to astatine region. This is also consistent with earlier studies by Itkis et al. [9], in which fission of stable targets in the mass 185-210 region was induced by bombardment with protons and 3;4 He beams. Itkis et al. found mostly symmetric mass distributions in the region around 208 Pb, with about four systems in the mass A $ 200 region having a slight reduction of PRL 105, 252502 (2010)

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The β + /EC decay of 180 Tl and excited states in the daughter nucleus 180 Hg have been investigated at the CERN On-Line Isotope Mass Separator (ISOLDE) facility. Many new low-lying energy levels were observed in 180 Hg, of which the most significant are the 0 + 2 at 419.6 keV and the 2 + 2 at 601.3 keV. The former is the bandhead of an excited band in 180 Hg assumed originally to be of prolate nature. From the β feeding to the different states in 180 Hg, the ground-state spin of 180 Tl was deduced to be (4 − ,5 − ).

The detailed analysis of the β-delayed fission data of 180 Tl is presented. The experiment was performed by producing a pure beam of 180 Tl by means of highly selective resonance laser ionization followed by mass separation with the ISOLDE (CERN, Geneva) isotope separator. A surprising asymmetric mass distribution of fission fragments from 180 Hg, the daughter of 180 Tl β decays, was observed. Here, the energy calibration of the silicon detectors, which is crucial for a proper determination of the fission fragments' energy and mass split, is presented and the total kinetic energy and its dependence on the mass split ratio is discussed. A more precise β-delayed fission probability P βDF ( 180 Tl) = 3.2(2) × 10 −3 % was deduced.