ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the process of beta-delayed emission of a single neutron, beginning with some of the main theoretical ideas that enter into the interpretation of neutron spectra such as the beta strength function and the concept of Porter-Thomas fluctuations. It addresses the question of the experimental tools and their inherent limits. The most basic limit is clearly the one at which prompt instability to particle emission sets in, but in many cases the experimental production cross-sections go to zero long before this limit is reached. The main reactions used for producing neutron-rich products are deep-inelastic and two-body transfer reactions during peripheral collisions at relatively low energy and fragmentation reactions for ions at relativistic and intermediate energies. Neutron emission from excited states populated in beta decay is the process unique to neutron-rich nuclei, and in the following we give examples for both light and heavy systems.
