A new ion beam facility based on a 3 MV Tandetron™ at IFIN-HH, Romania

Abstract

A 3MV Tandetron™ accelerator system has been installed and commissioned at the “Horia Hulubei” National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering – IFIN-HH, Măgurele, Romania. The main purpose of this machine is to strengthen applied nuclear physics research ongoing in our institute for more than four decades. The accelerator system was developed by High Voltage Engineering Europa B.V. (HVE) and comprises three high energy beam lines. The first beam line is dedicated to ion beam analysis (IBA) techniques: Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry – RBS, Nuclear Reaction Analysis – NRA, Particle Induced X-ray and γ-ray Emission – PIXE and PIGE and micro-beam experiments – μ-PIXE. The second beam line is dedicated to high energy ion implantation experiments and the third beam line was designed mainly for nuclear cross-sections measurements used in nuclear astrophysics. A unique feature, the first time in operation at an accelerator facility is the Na charge exchange canal (CEC), which is used to obtain high intensity beams of He− of at least 3μA. The results of the acceptance tests demonstrate the huge potential of this new facility in various fields, from IBA to radiation hardness studies and from medical or environmental applications to astrophysics. The main features of the accelerator are presented in this paper.