The world's strongest RI beam facility is now ready for heavy-ion acceleration
04 January 2007 (Volume 2 Issue 1)
At the end of December 2006, scientists at the Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science has succeeded in accelerating aluminum beam up to 70% of light speed using the heavy-ion accelerators in the recently completed Radioactive-Isotope Beam Factory (RIBF).
The new RIBF consists of an existing heavy-ion accelerator system plus three new ring cyclotrons and a large radioactive-isotope separator (BigRIPS). From April 2007, several more new instruments are going to be constructed to explore nuclear structures and their dynamics in radioactive-isotopes exclusively.
The previous accelerator facility at RIKEN has only been able to generate radioactive-isotope beams of relatively light elements. The RIBF will be the most powerful in the world and will be able to generate beams of heavy elements such as uranium at an unprecedented level of power. As well as nuclear fragmentation reactions, it will also be capable of staging nuclear fission reactions. It should therefore be able to produce about 4,000 species of nuclei—more than any other facility in the world.
One of the new ring cyclotrons, the Superconducting Ring Cyclotron (SRC), is the first ring-cyclotron to use a superconducting magnet to generate a strong magnetic field. This saves electricity. The SRC is equipped with a magnetic-shield of iron, which enables it to work with less magnetomotive force and block radiation.
Radioactive-isotope beam research using the RIBF is expected to lead to new insights into atomic nuclei, a better understanding of how elements are created in supernovae, and other major achievements in nuclear physics. The RIBF will have applications in the development of new materials and treatments for cancer. It will also be available for users outside RIKEN. From October to December 2006, the Nishina Center called for proposals from scientists who wished to use it. An international program advisory committee will be scheduled in February 2007 to examine the proposals, and to decide experimental programs that will start in July.
