Speaker
Description
The ReAccelerator (ReA) at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University is a worldwide unique facility, as it is the only post-accelerator that reaccelerates rare-isotope beams produced by fast-projectile fragmentation. While stable nuclei are delivered from local ion sources, rare nuclei are produced by in-flight fragmentation or fission of primary beams accelerated by the Coupled Cyclotron. After selection according to their magnetic rigidity, the fast beams are thermalized (or “stopped”) in a combination of solid and gas stoppers before being reaccelerated. At ReA, 1+ ions from the stopping area are injected as continuous beams into a cooler and buncher gas-filled Paul trap before charge breeding of ion pulses with an Electron Beam Ion Trap (EBIT). Following charge breeding, highly charged ions are ejected, selected with a charge-over-mass separator, transported to a Radio-Frequency-Quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator and a superconducting linear accelerator (LINAC) and finally delivered to experimental setups.
In the past years, ReA has proven its success and is now preparing to deliver beams at higher energies and faster pace. In the upcoming year, it is expected to provide 5000 hours of beam on target of stable and unstable beams up to 12 MeV/u. The rare isotope beams will be produced in batch mode. Success demands careful preparation before beam delivery. The preparation of beam times relies on carefully documenting previous runs, anticipation of possible issues, and most importantly, the selection of the charge state to reaccelerate, which is crucial for high efficiency, accounting beam contaminants, and reaching the requested reaccelerated beam energy.
After introducing ReA and summarizing recent results, this talk will give an overview of preparation and documentation procedures before and during experimental runs.