Trends in nuclear structure with heavy ions

Reactions using heavy ions have continued to provide an efficient and flexible means of creating and exciting nuclei, enabling comprehensive studies of nuclear structure. As well as searching for ordered structures, extreme deformations and nuclei near the limits of neutron deficiency, recent trends in nuclear spectroscopy have been towards the study of nuclei close to, and even on the neutron-rich side of the stability line. These regions will become more accessible as the range of available projectiles increases. In the meantime, the major improvements in sensitivity already attained with large gamma-ray arrays have made feasible reactions with low yield and low specificity such as inelastic and ''deep'' inelastic scattering. There is also increasing recognition that fusion reactions near and ''below'' the Coulomb barrier can be optimised by choosing targets and projectiles with specific structural properties which has consequences for the production of very heavy nuclei and very deformed nuclei.