Coulomb excitation of $^{29,30}$Na: Mapping the borders of the island of inversion

Nuclear shell evolution in neutron-rich Na nuclei around N=20 was studied by determining reduced transition probabilities, i.e., B(E2) and B(M1) values, in order to map the border of the island of inversion. To this end Coulomb-excitation experiments, employing radioactive 29,30Na beams with a final beam energy of 2.85 MeV/nucleon, were performed at REX-ISOLDE, CERN. De-excitation γ rays were detected by the MINIBALL γ-ray spectrometer in coincidence with scattered particles in a segmented Si detector. Transition probabilities to excited states were deduced. The measured B(E2) values agree well with shell-model predictions, supporting the idea that in the Na isotopic chain the ground-state wave function contains significant intruder admixture already at N=18, with N=19 having an almost pure two-particle–two-hole deformed ground-state configuration.