New approach for advanced fragment separator
Nuclear physics is a science basically driven by experimentation and its progress depends critically on advances in instrumentation. Considering the range of nuclear phenomena, and the corresponding length, energy and scales at which we observe them, it is easily understood that a large variety of advanced experimental instrumentation is used and there is always the need for innovative developments. Accelerators, detectors and their associated electronics and data acquisition systems, have been the bases for great inventions. In this context a consortium of universities and research centres of five European countries participate in a project aimed at designing an advanced new experimental facility for Reaction studies with Relativistic Radioactive ion Beams at the GSI laboratory in Darmstadt, Germany. One of the subprojects is the design of a system capable of providing innovative beam handling techniques. In particular, the goal is to design a large-acceptance superconductor system for separation of high-energy fission fragments. Currently, in order to carry out pioneering nuclear physics experiments on the nature of subatomic particles, a high-energy particle hits a thin target and causes fragmentation in a nuclear reaction. The radioactive reaction products are separated in-flight and transported as a secondary beam to the experiment. According to the new approach the secondary beam of radioactive atoms diffuse out of the hot target into the ion source where they are ionized for acceleration in the post accelerator. The separation of the fragments is of high importance since the beam quality can influence the experiments' results. The new system provides excellent beam quality since it allows full control over beam energy and time. The system has been tested by using Monte Carlo mathematical models and it has been shown that compared to the existing experimental setup, it can provide increased separation efficiency for secondary beams by more than one order of magnitude. The separation system will be an important part of a facility that will be unique worldwide. The experiments that will be carried out will extend our knowledge in the fields of nuclear physics, astrophysics, and applied sciences far beyond current frontiers.
