Operation of the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) at Michigan State University as a National User Facility and Support for its Research Program

该奖项为密歇根州立大学的国家超导回旋加速器实验室（NSCL）提供资金，作为国家用户设施;支持密歇根州立大学的教师和工作人员进行核科学，核天体物理学，加速器和仪器物理学的研究;并作为一个致力于培养下一代科学家的中心。自成立以来，位于密歇根州立大学的国家超导回旋加速器实验室（NSCL）在美国和世界范围内的核物理和加速器物理研究中发挥了重要作用。 随着耦合回旋加速器的升级即将完成，这一角色将在一个更高的水平上继续扮演。 在1996年NSF/DOE核科学咨询委员会的长期计划中，该升级项目被推荐为新建项目的最高优先级。利用耦合回旋加速器工作，使中能初级重离子束的大强度增益成为可能。 随着新的碎片分离器的接受度提高，它将有可能产生稀有同位素的快速束，通常比以前的设施强度高100 - 10，000倍，提供在轻到中等质量区域（A50）的亮度，这将是世界上无法超越的。一系列多功能的新实验装置将被联机，这将大大提高用户利用各种稀有同位素束进行尖端研究的能力。 这些新仪器中有三个是由美国国家科学基金会资助的：（1）一套18个分段的锗探测器，用于研究中能库仑激发和敲除反应;（2）一个4特斯拉米的高接受能谱仪，它可以与大面积中子飞行时间探测器结合，用于在非常小的角度上进行中子和带电粒子光谱学研究;（3）高分辨率的硅条CsI探测器阵列，它可以测量同位素丰度、激发态布居和同位素分辨的相关函数，其高精度和高效率是任何现有的探测器阵列所不能比拟的。其他正在开发的新设备包括一个停束设施（DOE资助）和一个9.4特斯拉精密潘宁离子阱（MSU资助），用于精密质量测量，弱相互作用研究和原子光谱学。在接下来的十年里，NSCL将成为美国首屈一指的稀有同位素研究机构，主要研究领域有三个：1.探索发生在爆炸性恒星碰撞中的核过程，这些过程是宇宙中元素不断合成的原因; 2.探索次正常密度和超正常密度下热核物质的性质（如中子星中发现的密度）; 3.探索具有不寻常的质子中子比的奇异核及其性质的测定。

This award provides funds for operating the National SuperconductingCyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) at Michigan State University as a nationaluser facility; for supporting the MSU faculty and staff to conductresearch in nuclear science, nuclear astrophysics, and accelerator andinstrumentation physics; and for serving as a center dedicated totraining the next generation of scientists. Since its inception, the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory(NSCL) at Michigan State University has played a significant role innuclear and accelerator physics research, both in the U.S. andworldwide. This role will continue at an enhanced level with theCoupled Cyclotron Upgrade now nearing completion. In the 1996Long-Range Plan of the NSF/DOE Nuclear Science Advisory Committee, thisupgrade project was recommended to be the highest priority for newconstruction. Large intensity gains of intermediate-energy primary heavy-ion beams aremade possible with the coupled cyclotron operation. Together with theincreased acceptance of the new fragment separator, it will be possibleto produce fast beams of rare isotopes typically more intense by factorsof 100 - 10,000 than available at the previous facility, providingluminosities in the light-to-midrange mass region (A50) that will beunsurpassed worldwide. A versatile array of new experimental devices will be brought on-linethat will significantly enhance the ability of users to conduct cuttingedge research with a broad range of rare isotope beams. Three of thesenew instruments are funded by the NSF: (1) a set of eighteen segmentedgermanium detectors for studies of intermediate energy coulombexcitation and knockout reactions; (2) a 4-Tesla-meter high-acceptancespectrometer that can be combined with large-area neutron time-of-flightdetectors for neutron and charged-particle spectroscopy at very smallangles; (3) a high-resolution silicon-strip CsI detector array thatpermits measurements of isotopic abundances, excited state populations,and isotopically resolved correlation functions with a high precisionand efficiency that cannot be matched by any existing detector array. Other new equipment under development include a stopped-beam facility(DOE funded) and a 9.4-Tesla precision Penning ion trap (MSU funded) forprecision mass measurements, weak interaction studies, and atomicspectroscopy. For the next decade, the NSCL will be the premier rare isotope researchfacility in the U.S., with a research focus on three major areas offorefront scientific interest: 1. exploration of the nuclear processes that occur in explosive stellarenvironments and that are responsible for the ongoing synthesis of theelements in the cosmos; 2. exploration of the properties of hot nuclear matter at sub- andsupra-normal densities (such as those found in neutron stars); 3. exploration of exotic nuclei with unusual ratios of protons toneutrons and the determination of their properties.