Gamma decay of superdeformed states

I'll start off by reminding you of one of the most striking properties of s uperdeformed states, namely the way they decay to states of smaller deforma tion. I'll then try and convince you that the decay can be described using the same terminology in all the different mass regions. In such an approach , the general trends of the decay-out process and the general features of t he decay-out spectrum can be explained satisfactorly. However, not everythi ng is understood. This aspect will be the subject of the last part of my ta lk, where I'll present some recent work concerning the nature of the decay mechanism.