Operation of the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) at Michigan State University as a National User Facility and Support for its Research Program

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

This award provides funds for operating the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) at Michigan State University as a national user facility; for supporting the MSU faculty and staff to conduct research in nuclear science, nuclear astrophysics, and accelerator and instrumentation physics; and for serving as a center dedicated to training the next generation of scientists. Since its inception, the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) at Michigan State University has played a significant role in nuclear and accelerator physics research, both in the U.S. and worldwide. This role will continue at an enhanced level with the Coupled Cyclotron Upgrade now nearing completion. In the 1996 Long-Range Plan of the NSF/DOE Nuclear Science Advisory Committee, this upgrade project was recommended to be the highest priority for new construction. Large intensity gains of intermediate-energy primary heavy-ion beams are made possible with the coupled cyclotron operation. Together with the increased acceptance of the new fragment separator, it will be possible to produce fast beams of rare isotopes typically more intense by factors of 100 - 10,000 than available at the previous facility, providing luminosities in the light-to-midrange mass region (A<50) that will be unsurpassed worldwide. A versatile array of new experimental devices will be brought on-line that will significantly enhance the ability of users to conduct cutting edge research with a broad range of rare isotope beams. Three of these new instruments are funded by the NSF: (1) a set of eighteen segmented germanium detectors for studies of intermediate energy coulomb excitation and knockout reactions; (2) a 4-Tesla-meter high-acceptance spectrometer that can be combined with large-area neutron time-of-flight detectors for neutron and charged-particle spectroscopy at very small angles; (3) a high-resolution silicon-strip CsI detector array that permits measurements of isotopic abundances, excited state populations, and isotopically resolved correlation functions with a high precision and efficiency that cannot be matched by any existing detector array. Other new equipment under development include a stopped-beam facility (DOE funded) and a 9.4-Tesla precision Penning ion trap (MSU funded) for precision mass measurements, weak interaction studies, and atomic spectroscopy. For the next decade, the NSCL will be the premier rare isotope research facility in the U.S., with a research focus on three major areas of forefront scientific interest: 1. exploration of the nuclear processes that occur in explosive stellar environments and that are responsible for the ongoing synthesis of the elements in the cosmos; 2. exploration of the properties of hot nuclear matter at sub- and supra-normal densities (such as those found in neutron stars); 3. exploration of exotic nuclei with unusual ratios of protons to neutrons and the determination of their properties.