Large spin alignment of the unbound He-5 fragment after fragmentation of 240 MeV/nucleon He-6

Peripheral fragmentation of a 240 MeV/nucleon beam of the halo nucleus He-6 incident on carbon target has been studied in a kinematically complete experiment. It is found that one-neutron stripping to the unbound nucleus He-5 is the dominant fragmentation mechanism and that it leads to a spin alignment of He-5 in a plane perpendicular to the He-5 momentum vector. This is expected to be a common feature for all neutron halo nuclei.