Precision Lifetime Measurement of 21+ State in 120Te

The lifetime of the 120Te first‐excited 2+ state is measured using the recoil distance Doppler shift (RDDS) method after population by inverse‐kinematics Coulomb excitation. The resulting mean lifetime of 10.4(2) ps provides a factor of ten improvement in precision relative to the previously accepted value. A number of necessary corrections are discussed stemming from relativistic effects due to large recoil velocities.