Speaker
Description
The iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator Based Sciences has been operating a K=200 Separated Sector Cyclotron for nuclear physics research, isotope production and hadron therapy since about 1986. The conflicting demands of these diverse application place severe restrictions on research capacity and on the possibility to respond to future demands.
To increase the beam time for research and isotope production, the establishment of a new facility, the South African Isotope Facility (SAIF) has been proposed. The new facility will consist of two parts:
1. The Accelerator Centre for Exotic Isotopes (ACE Isotopes) will be a dedicated facility for radioisotope production. A commercial high-current 70 MeV H- cyclotron for this purpose will free the SSC and allow an increase in beam time for nuclear physics and related research.
2. The Accelerator Centre for Exotic Beams (ACE Beams) will be a radioactive ion beam (RIB) facility for nuclear physics research. The SSC will be used as a driver for an isotope separation on-line (ISOL) facility. A 66 MeV proton beam of up to 50 μA will be delivered by the SSC for producing radioactive beams from a target ion source. The first stage of this project will be a low-energy radioactive ion beam (LERIB) project without post acceleration. The second stage will be the post acceleration of the radioactive beams with a linear accelerator to energies of between 4 and 5 MeV per nucleon.
After a brief overview of iThemba LABS facilities and research opportunities he talk will describe how the Long Range Plan of iThemba LABS will create the South African Isotope Facility (SAIF) which will put South Africa in a prominent position in the future to address the new challenges both in research and training within the subatomic field and beyond.
