The separation techniques for secondary beams

Abstract

In-flight separation of unretarded nuclear reaction products has made considerable progress in recent years. Electromagnetic separators for exotic species produced by nuclear fission, heavy ion fusion, target spallation, or projectile fragmentation have been developed to separate isotopes over the whole periodic table of elements with energies up to the GeV/u range. Recently, the possibility to produce exotic nuclear beams with energies far above the Coulomb barrier by projectile fragmentation opened a new field of secondary beam physics, the direct use of isotopically separated beams of unstable nuclei for nuclear reactions. Characteristic examples of in-flight separation will be discussed with emphasis on the new generation of projectile fragment separators, including the future application of cooled and stored secondary beams for the application in nuclear physics.