Nuclear Structure at the Extremes; In‐beam γ‐ray Spectroscopy of 180Pb

For the first time, the excited states in the extremely neutron‐deficient nucleus 180Pb have been observed in an in‐beam γ‐ray measurement employing the recoil‐decay tagging technique. Deduced level energies follow the trend of prolate intruder band level energies derived from heavier lead isotopes and reflect the persistence of magicity of the closed Z = 82 proton shell when approaching the proton drip line.