Spectroscopy of {sup 32}Ne and the 'Island of Inversion'

We report on the first spectroscopic study of the N=22 nucleus {sup 32}Ne 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 {sup 32}Ne beam on a carbon target and proton removal from {sup 33}Na at 245 MeV/u. This transition is assigned to the deexcitation of the first J{sup p}i=2{sup +} state in {sup 32}Ne to the 0{sup +} 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.