In 1987 a population of the two quasiparticle (2-QP) isomer of ¹⁸⁰Ta^m was dumped by flashes of bremsstrahlung x-rays from a medical linac with VERY HIGH EFFICIENCY.

This seems to have been the first time an isomer was used in a (g,g') reaction as a target.

It was shown that the triggering of the isomer occurred by resonantly exciting it to a K-mixing level which then decayed in part to a low-K band.