A method for the acceleration of radioactive nuclei

Abstract

The new heavy-ion accelerator under construction at Oak Ridge National Laboratory allows the possibility of producing and accelerating short-lived radioactive nuclei to nuclear reaction energies. The heavy-ion accelerator will be a 25 MV tandem that injects into the Oak Ridge Isochronous Cyclotron (ORIC). The beam from the tandem will be transmitted through an injection system that directs the beam to a stripping foil located at an intermediate radius of the cyclotron. Computer calculations have shown that, in addition to bringing the beam to the stripper foil, this system can also direct the tandem heavy-ion beam into the existing ORIC ion source, located at the center of the cyclotron. Using ion source technology similar to that which was developed for the on-line mass separator at Oak Ridge (UNISOR), it is proposed that radioactive nuclei can be produced and ionized in the ORIC ion source. Subsequently these ions can be extracted from the ion source and accelerated in the cyclotron to high energies. Calculated energies, intensities, and transit times of accelerated radioactive nuclei are presented.