Perspectives of Nuclear Physics in Europe - European Science ...

3. Research Infrastructures and Networking
• SPIRAL: the CIME cyclotron accelerates radioactive
beams in the energy domain 2-25 MeV/u.
These secondary beams are produced by the ISOL
method using the very intense primary GANIL beam
impinging on a thick production target. An intense R&D
programme on the target ion source systems is presently
in progress, both for SPIRAL1 and for the future
SPIRAL2 facility under construction.
The GANIL experimental halls are equipped with a
very large range of versatile and state-of-the-art equipment.
In particular, GANIL runs three large magnetic
spectrometers:
• VAMOS is a large acceptance spectrometer and is
used for various types of experiments: for the spectroscopy
of single particle and collective states of
exotic nuclei using direct and deep inelastic reactions,
fusion-evaporation reactions, and the use of the Recoil
Decay Tagging method to characterise heavy nuclei.
It was built within a European collaboration (UK, Germany,
France), and was supported by a European
RTD programme. The focal plane detection system
is presently undergoing an important upgrade.
• The high-resolution spectrometer, SPEG, which has
been intensively used for the study of discrete nuclear
states, mass measurements of exotic nuclei, and the
general study of nuclear excitations in peripheral collisions.
• The LISE III spectrometer, mainly used today for
experiments with radioactive beams produced “inflight”
on the production target located at the entrance
of the spectrometer, which then isolates the projectile
fragments from the enormous flux of the incident
beam, focuses and unambiguously identifies them. An
additional velocity selection is obtained from a Wien
filter. Finally, the last magnetic dipole transforms the
whole apparatus into a genuine mass spectrometer.
The variety of other detectors at GANIL are used
for investigations on exotic nuclei and highly excited
nuclei:
• The EXOGAM array is a large solid angle, high efficiency
γ detector, specially designed for RIB but also
exploited with high intensity beams. It was financed
through a large international collaboration.
• MUST2/TIARA: modular charged-particle detector
consisting of solid state detector telescopes. It is
dedicated to the study of direct reactions induced
by radioactive beams impinging on light targets. These
detectors are often coupled with one of the spectrometers
and with EXOGAM.
Apart from these versatile devices, the GANIL experimental
area offers a variety of equipment for the detection
of all types of particles: INDRA, a 4π multi-detector for
charged particles, the Chateau de Crystal for γ’s, the
Neutron Wall, and the MAYA active target-detector, to
name just a few.
In addition, three beam lines are now available for
Atomic and Condensed Matter Physics, at very low
energy (below 1 MeV/nucleon, after the injector cyclotrons),
at medium energy (after CSS1) and at full energy,
allowing for a broad range of experiments. A special
beam line is also devoted to industrial applications, and
to biological research. This activity has been considerably
increased in the last few years, with the creation
of a new laboratory dedicated to radiobiology inside
the GANIL campus, and with special efforts to attract
new industrial partners. The radiobiology activities are
expected to grow at GANIL in the coming years, before
the new hadron therapy facility ARCHADE comes into
operation. In total, between 50 to 60% of GANIL beam
time (around 10 000 hours) is allocated to interdisciplinary
research and to applications, some with major potential
implications for society: nuclear waste management,
ageing of materials in nuclear power plants, radiobiology
with heavy projectiles. Two types of industrial partners
are particularly interested in the opportunities offered
by GANIL’s heavy ion beams: companies or agencies
involved in the construction of electronic components
for space applications (CNES, ESA, EADS, JAXA), and
those building microporous films and membranes, or
microstructures based on the development of this technology.
GANIL is thus a unique centre in Europe for studying
interaction between ions and matter and is a host
laboratory for a large community of around 700 users
from more than 100 laboratories and 30 countries. The
SPIRAL2 project presently under construction within
a broad international collaboration will strengthen the
European leadership in the field of exotic nuclei, and
opens the road towards EURISOL, for which GANIL has
been identified as a possible site.
The number of permanent staff is slightly above
250, while the number of students and post-docs is on
average above 30. The average number of publications
related to GANIL experiments is around 150 per year,
out of which more than half are published in refereed
reviews. The annual budget (without manpower) reaches
9.4 M€, out of which 7.4 M€ come from the 2 funding
institutions, CNRS/IN2P3 and CEA/DSM. A recent study
on the socio-economical impact of GANIL on the region
showed that GANIL indirectly generated more than 350
jobs, and injects more than 32 M€ into the local economy
each year, through the salaries of its employees and
its running costs. It was estimated that every € that is
invested in GANIL by the Region of Basse Normandie
is recovered locally within 3 years.
32 | Perspectives of Nuclear Physics in Europe – NuPECC Long Range Plan 2010