Curium-244 decays into 240Pu by emission of alpha particle, but it also absorbs neutrons resulting in a small amount of heavier curium isotopes. Among those, 247Cm and 248Cm are popular in scientific research because of their long half-lives. However, the production rate of 247Cm in thermal neutron reactors is relatively low because it is prone to undergo fission induced by thermal neutrons. Synthesis of 250Cm via neutron absorption is also rather unlikely because of the short half-life of the intermediate product 249Cm (64 min), which converts by β− decay to the berkelium isotope 249Bk.