The ATLAS multi-user upgrade and potential applications

Abstract

With the recent integration of the CARIBU-EBIS charge breeder into the ATLAS accelerator system to provide for more pure and efficient charge breeding of radioactive beams, a multi-user upgrade of the ATLAS facility is being proposed to serve multiple users simultaneously. ATLAS was the first superconducting ion linac in the world and is the US DOE low-energy Nuclear Physics National User Facility. The proposed upgrade will take advantage of the continuous-wave nature of ATLAS and the pulsed nature of the EBIS charge breeder in order to simultaneously accelerate two beams with very close mass-to-charge ratios; one stable from the existing ECR ion source and one radioactive from the newly commissioned EBIS charge breeder. In addition to enhancing the nuclear physics program, beam extraction at different points along the linac will open up the opportunity for other potential applications; for instance, material irradiation studies at ∼1 MeV/u, isotope production and radiobiological studies at ∼6 MeV/u and at the full ATLAS energy of ∼15 MeV/u. The concept and proposed implementation of the ATLAS multi-user upgrade will be discussed. Future plans to enhance the flexibility of this upgrade will be presented.