A plunger set-up has been designed and constructed to measure picosecond nuclear half-lives using recoil distance method (RDM). The system has been used to measure the half-lives of nuclear states in³⁵Cl,^37,38Ar and⁴⁰K. The shortest half-life measured with the system isT_1/2=0.36(14) ps for the 4366 keV (8⁺) state and the longest half-life isT_1/2=1.10(7) ns for the 2543 keV (7⁺) state in⁴⁰K.

Results from the multiplicity distributions of inclusive photons and charged particles, scaling of particle multiplicities, event-by-event multiplicity fluctuations, and charged-neutral fluctuations in 158A GeV Pb+Pb collisions are presented and discussed. A scaling of charged particle multiplicity as N_part^1.07±0.05 and photos as N_part^1.12±0.03 have been observed, indicating violation of naive wounded nucleon model. The analysis of localized charged-neutral fluctuation indicates a model-independent demonstration of non-statistical fluctuations in both charged particles and photons in limited azimuthal regions. However, no correlated charged-neutral fluctuations are observed.