Spectroscopy of<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mmultiscripts><mml:mi>Ne</mml:mi><mml:mprescripts/><mml:none/><mml:mn>32</mml:mn></mml:mmultiscripts></mml:math>and the “Island of Inversion”

We report on the first spectroscopic study of the N=22 nucleus 32Ne at the newly completed RIKEN Radioactive Ion Beam Factory. A single gamma-ray line with an energy of 722(9) keV was observed in both inelastic scattering of a 226 MeV/u 32Ne beam on a carbon target and proton removal from 33Na at 245 MeV/u. This transition is assigned to the deexcitation of the first Jpi=2+ state in 32Ne to the 0+ ground state. Interpreted through comparison with state-of-the-art shell-model calculations, the low excitation energy demonstrates that the "island of inversion" extends to at least N=22 for the Ne isotopes.