Abstract :
The advent of radioactive ion beams has opened the possibility of studying nuclear reactions induced by neutron-rich nuclei. In particular, light nuclei near the drip-line, or even resonances beyond the drip line can be populated and investigated. In this paper techniques developed to study direct reactions in inverse kinematics are described. The potentialities of such studies are illustrated by examples chosen from experiments performed at the GANIL facility. Recent investigations of the structure of neutron rich Helium isotopes using elastic, inelastic and transfer reactions are described, followed by a search for the ultimate exotic nucleus, the tetra-neutron, and a study of the behavior of neutron distributions when approaching the drip-line for Oxygen isotopes.
