  The excitation of the isovector giant dipole resonance (GDR) by alpha
scattering is investigated as a method of probing the neutron excess in exotic
nuclei. DWBA calculations are presented for 28O and 70Ca and the interplay of
Coulomb and nuclear excitation is discussed. Since the magnitude of the Coulomb
excitation amplitude is strongly influenced by the Q-value, the neutron excess
plays an important role, as it tends to lower the energy of the GDR. The
excitation of the compressional isoscalar dipole state in 70Ca by alpha
scattering is also investigated. It is shown that the population of this latter
state may be an even more sensitive probe of the neutron skin than the
isovector GDR.
