Operation of the NSCL as a National User Facilty & Research Program

NSCL 作为国家用户设施的运营

• 批准号: 1565546
• 负责人: Bradley Sherrill
• 金额: $ 12250万
• 依托单位: Michigan State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Cooperative Agreement
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-10-01 至 2022-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1565546&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Operation; NSCL; National; User; Facilty

This award provides funds to operate and maintain the National Superconducting CyclotronLaboratory (NSCL) at Michigan State University (MSU) as a national user facility, to support abroad program in nuclear structure, nuclear astrophysics, precision measurements of fundamentalparameters and symmetries, and accelerator science, and to support the research programs of MSUnuclear science faculty. The award will continue NSCL's national and international leadership inthese areas by supporting its operation as the nation's premier user facility dedicated to theproduction and study of rare (short-lived) isotopes. The award will also allow the NSCL to exploitthe scientific opportunities newly available with the recently commissioned and world-uniqueReA3 beamline accelerator that enables experiments at energies that have not been explored withrare isotopes and are relevant to supernovae and the structure of nuclei. These opportunities havestrong overlap with the stated scientific goals of the 2015 NSAC Long Range Plan, and form acoherent trajectory towards the next generation accelerator, FRIB, which is being constructed onthe NSCL site. Approximately 80% of those conducting research at the NSCL are from outsideMSU and the support of NSCL will serve a broad scientific community. As the nation's largestuniversity-based user facility for nuclear physics, the NSCL will continue to provide unique handsonlearning opportunities for educating the next generation of nuclear scientists, acceleratorphysicists, and engineers. Approximately 10% of all nuclear science PhDs awarded in the UnitedStates are based on research carried out at the NSCL, and approximately 100 undergraduatestudents are actively involved in research at the NSCL each year. The laboratory has extensiveoutreach activities, including facility tours for over 4000 people each year. In addition, researchis carried out in application areas such as development of new tools for radiation treatments ofcancer, systematic studies of how ionizing radiation affects DNA, discovery of novel atomic andnanostructures in complex materials, and homeland security.Intense beams of stable isotopes are accelerated using the NSCL's two coupled superconductingcyclotrons, the CCF. The nuclei split into fragments as the beam strikes a stationary target. Eachfragment is itself a lighter nucleus, and many fragments are themselves short-lived isotopes. Theisotope of choice for a specific experiment is selected by means of a fragment separator: a magneticchicane that permits only a specific charge and mass through its pathway. The nuclei emergingfrom the fragment separator form a new beam for use in studying various nuclear reactions. TheNSCL has seven end stations to where the isotope beam can be directed and each end station hasa variety of target and detector systems to carry out the desired measurements. The NSCL canalso bring the unstable isotopes to a complete stop using a dense gas; this in turn enablesexperiments such as mass measurements using trapping techniques also used in atomic andmolecular physics. The ReA3 beamline accelerator reaccelerates stopped isotopes to low energies(well below in-flight levels) for experiments that are important for nuclear astrophysics, includingthe origin of stellar energy production as well as the dynamics of the birth and death of stars. Thereaccelerated beams are directed to one of the end stations for use in various nuclear reactions.

该奖项提供资金，以操作和维护国家超导回旋加速器实验室（NSCL）在密歇根州州立大学（MSU）作为一个国家用户设施，以支持国外计划在核结构，核天体物理学，精密测量的基本参数和对称性，加速器科学，并支持研究计划的MSUnnuclear科学教师。该奖项将继续NSCL的国家和国际领导在这些领域的支持其作为全国首屈一指的用户设施，致力于生产和研究稀有（短寿命）同位素的操作。该奖项还将允许NSCL利用最近委托的世界独特的ReA 3光束线加速器新提供的科学机会，该加速器能够在尚未用稀有同位素探索的能量下进行实验，并与超新星和原子核结构有关。这些机会与2015年NSAC长期计划的既定科学目标有很强的重叠，并形成了通往下一代加速器FRIB的一致轨迹，FRIB正在NSCL网站上建造。在NSCL进行研究的人中约有80%来自MSU外部，NSCL的支持将服务于广泛的科学界。作为美国最大的基于大学的核物理用户设施，NSCL将继续为教育下一代核科学家，加速器物理学家和工程师提供独特的实践学习机会。大约10%的所有核科学博士学位授予在美国是基于在NSCL进行的研究，大约100名本科生积极参与研究在NSCL每年。该实验室有广泛的推广活动，包括每年超过4000人的设施参观图尔斯。此外，还在应用领域开展研究，如开发癌症放射治疗的新工具，系统研究电离辐射如何影响DNA，发现复杂材料中的新原子和纳米结构，以及国土安全。使用NSCL的两个耦合超导回旋加速器CCF加速稳定同位素的强束。当电子束击中静止的目标时，原子核分裂成碎片。每个碎片本身就是一个较轻的原子核，许多碎片本身就是短寿命的同位素。特定实验所选择的同位素是通过碎片分离器来选择的：碎片分离器是一种只允许特定的电荷和质量通过其路径的磁性物质。从碎片分离器中出来的原子核形成一束新的原子束，用于研究各种核反应。NSCL有七个终端站，同位素束可以被引导到这些终端站，每个终端站都有各种各样的目标和探测器系统来进行所需的测量。NSCL还可以使用致密气体使不稳定的同位素完全停止;这反过来又使实验成为可能，例如使用原子和分子物理学中也使用的捕获技术进行质量测量。ReA 3束线加速器将停止的同位素重新加速到低能量（远低于飞行水平），用于对核天体物理学非常重要的实验，包括恒星能量产生的起源以及恒星诞生和死亡的动力学。因此，加速的束流被引导到终端站之一，用于各种核反应。