Spectroscopy of strongly deformed Ne32 by proton knockout reactions

Low lying states of neutron-rich 32Ne were populated by means of one- and two-proton knock- out reactions at the RIKEN Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory. A new transition is observed at 1410(15) keV and assigned to the 4+ 1 → 2+ 1 decay. With this energy the R4/2 ratio is calculated to be 2.99(6), lying close to the rigid rotor limit and suggests a high degree of collectivity and strongest deformation among neutron-rich Neon isotopes. Comparisons of experimental inclusive and exclu- sive reaction cross sections with shell model and eikonal reaction dynamical calculations reveals considerable quenching for this highly asymmetric system and contributes to systematic trends.