High-precision measurement of the <math><mmultiscripts><mi>He</mi><mprescripts/><none/><mn>6</mn></mmultiscripts></math> half-life

International audienceThe half-life of He6 has been measured using a low-energy radioactive beam implanted in an YAlO3 Ce-doped inorganic scintillator and recording decay events in a 4π geometry. Events were time-stamped with a digital data acquisition system enabling a reliable control of dead-time effects and detector gain variations. The result, T1/2=(807.25±0.16stat±0.11sys) ms, provides the most precise value obtained so far and is consistent with the only previous measurement having a precision smaller than 0.1%. This resolves the long-standing discrepancy previously observed between two sets of measurements