This is the second volume in a series of lecture notes based on the highly s- cessful Euro Summer School on Exotic Beams that has been running yearly since 1993 (apart from 1999) and is planned to continue to do so. It is the aim of the School and these lecture notes to provide an introduction to - dioactive ion beam (RIB) physics at the level of graduate students and young postdocs starting out in the ?eld. Each volume will contain lectures covering a range of topics from nuclear theory to experiment to applications. Our understanding of atomic nuclei has undergone a major re-orientation over the past two decades and seen the emergence of an exciting ?eld of research: the study of exotic nuclei. The availability of energetic beams of short-lived nuclei, referred to as radioactive ion beams (RIBs), has opened the way to the study of the structure and dynamics of thousands of nuclear species never before observed in the laboratory. In its 2004 report "Persp- tives for Nuclear Physics Research in Europe in the Coming Decade and - yond", the Nuclear Physics European Collaboration Committee (NuPECC) statesthatthe?eldofRIBphysicsisoneofthemostimportantdirectionsfor the future science programme in Europe. In 2005 it published its "Roadmap for Construction of Nuclear Physics Research Infrastructures in Europe".

This is the third and ?nal volume in a series of Lecture Notes based on the highlysuccessfulEuroSummerSchoolonExoticBeamsthathasbeenrunning yearly since 1993 (apart from 1999) and is planned to continue to do so. It is the aim of the series to provide an introduction to Radioactive Ion Beam (RIB) physics at the level of graduate students and young postdocs starting out in the ?eld. Each volume contains lectures covering a range of topics from nuclear theory to experiment to applications. Our understanding of atomic nuclei has undergone a major re-orientation over the past two decades and seen the emergence of an exciting ?eld of research: the study of 'exotic' nuclei. The availability of energetic beams of short-lived nuclei, referred to as 'radioactive ion beams' (RIBs), has opened the way to the study of the structure and dynamics of thousands of nuclear species never before observed in the laboratory. This ?eld has now become one of the most important and fast-moving in physics worldwide. And it is fair to say that Europe leads the way with a number of large international projects starting up in the next few years, such as the FAIR facility at GSI in Germany. From a broader perspective, one must also highlight just how widely RIB physics impacts on other areas, from energy and the environment to medicine and materials science.