First Measurement of 60ge $\beta$ -Decay

The N = 28 isotone Ge-60, T-z = -2, was produced and selected among the products of the fragmentation reaction of a Kr-78 beam at 150MeV/nucleon and a Be target by means of the A1900 fragment separator at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) at Michigan State University (MSU). Its decay was studied for the first time using the optical time projection chamber. The beta-decay of Ge-60 was found to be dominated by beta-delayed proton emission, with a branching of approximate to 100% and half-life T-1/2 = 20(-5)(+7) ms.