Half-life of ${}_{}{}^6{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{He}$

A remeasurement of the half-life of ${}_{}{}^6{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{He}$ has been carried out by forming the activity in the ${}_{}{}^9{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Be}(n, \alpha ){}_{}{}^6{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{He}$ reaction, transferring samples to a plastic detector, and multiscaling $\beta$-ray counts. Activities were produced in either Be metal or pure Be crystal. No significant differences were noted in results depending on the type of sample, $\beta$-ray bias, initial counting rate, or starting channel in the analysis. The adopted value, $T_{\frac{1}{2}}=805.4\mathrm{}\pm 2.0$ ms, is in agreement with a previous Brookhaven result but disagrees with recent work by Barker et al.

RADIOACTIVITY ${}_{}{}^6{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{He}$: measured $T_{\frac{1}{2}}$.