Speaker
Description
The LHC Injector Upgrade (LIU) will increase the reliability and the performance of the LHC beams required for reaching the goals of HL-LHC. For ISOLDE, the higher beam intensity with the new Linac4 as injector and the increase of the PS Booster energy open new perspectives in terms of beam usage. In particular, an upgrade of the target area and the construction of new target stations could be a unique opportunity to foresee an infrastructure adapted to material irradiations in parallel to ISOLDE operation. Parasitic or dedicated irradiations have occasionally been performed in the past to serve mainly the needs of target developments. Considering that only a small fraction of the proton beam interacts with the target material and that the interactions result in the production of secondary particles with a higher emission probability in the forward direction, there is a substantial benefit in order to maximize the beam usage to exploit the area between the target and the beam dump for irradiations in parallel to ISOLDE operation. The presentation summarizes how irradiation possibilities have been exploited in the past at ISOLDE and outlines the technical and operational limitations observed. FLUKA calculations of the radiation field in the areas of interest are presented in order to allow the assessment of the ISOLDE performances as an irradiation facility. In addition, an overview of the strengths of ISOLDE with the presence of the Class A laboratory, remote handling capabilities as well as a shielded hot cell to address the radiation protection challenges associated to irradiation experiment are outlined. Finally, some ideas to enhance and generalize the material irradiation possibilities with the objective of addressing the needs of a community wider than the one of target experts are presented.
