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With the aim of increasing the primary beam intensity in the next generation Radioactive Ion Beam facilities, a major challenge is the production of targets capable of dissipating high beam power, particularly for molten targets. In that context, a direct molten loop target concept was proposed for short-lived isotopes for EURISOL. The circulation of molten metal enables the production of droplets enhancing the radioisotope diffusion. The concept also includes a heat exchanger ensuring thermal equilibrium under interaction with high proton beam power. A target prototype, named LIEBE, has been designed and assembled to validate this concept in the ISOLDE operation environment. The project is now in an offline commissioning phase in order to confirm the design specifications before tests under proton beam. Successful outcome of the project can lead to new beams with great interest in nuclear structure and physics studies. In particular, investigations fall short in the region around the double magic isotope 100 Sn at ISOL facilities because of the lack of a suitable primary beam driver and target-ion source unit for any of the present-day facilities. Achievable 100 Sn beam intensities and purities are calculated with ABRABLA and FLUKA considering the use of a high power molten lanthanum target combined with molecular tin formation and a FEBIAD ion source. The presented option takes into consideration upgrade scenarios of the primary beam at ISOLDE, going from a 1.4 GeV–2 μA to a 2 GeV–4 μA pulsed proton beam.

The production of high intensity and isobarically pure neutron-rich fission fragments is of high importance for the physics research program of the ISOLDE facility at CERN. This is typically done in a two-step method where a tungsten converter, positioned parallel and below the UCx target, is irradiated with 1.4 GeV protons. This will produce spallation neutrons which irradiate a UCx target producing the isotopes of interest. Currently, the in-target production is limited by the geometrical overlap of the neutron fluence and the target material and suffers from low production yield. In this work, a prototype is proposed where the tungsten converter is positioned in the center of an annular UCx target. FLUKA simulations were conducted to optimize the geometry, maximizing the production of isobarically pure neutron-rich fission fragments which determined that a large diameter target is necessary (5 cm). Thermo-electric ANSYS® simulations were conducted in order to develop a large Ta target oven which can reach 2000 °C and tests were conducted to benchmark the simulations. A prototype design was validated, for ISOLDE operation, with offline tests which shows that the tungsten-graphite-tantalum assembly is fully stable up to 2200 °C.

A novel production system based on the Isotope Separation On-Line (ISOL) method is being developed to produce intense mass separated 11C beams for PET-aided hadron therapy. In this work, we present a systematic study of the target that was developed for optimized 11C beam production. A solid boron nitride target (BN) with approximately 21% open porosity was manufactured by spark plasma sintering to provide maximized in-target production yield with enhanced isotope release properties. Operational limitations with respect to high temperatures and oxidizing atmospheres were studied, revealing that the BN target can withstand temperatures up to 1500 °C and can be operated with a controlled O2 leak, providing O2 potentials up to −300 kJ/mol, measured at 1000 °C.

The CERN-MEDICIS (MEDical Isotopes Collected from ISolde) facility has delivered its first radioactive ion beam at CERN (Switzerland) in December 2017 to support the research and development in nuclear medicine using non-conventional radionuclides. Since then, fourteen institutes, including CERN, have joined the collaboration to drive the scientific program of this unique installation and evaluate the needs of the community to improve the research in imaging, diagnostics, radiation therapy and personalized medicine. The facility has been built as an extension of the ISOLDE (Isotope Separator On Line DEvice) facility at CERN. Handling of open radioisotope sources is made possible thanks to its Radiological Controlled Area and laboratory. Targets are being irradiated by the 1.4 GeV proton beam delivered by the CERN Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB) on a station placed between the High Resolution Separator (HRS) ISOLDE target station and its beam dump. Irradiated target materials are also received from external institutes to undergo mass separation at CERN-MEDICIS. All targets are handled via a remote handling system and exploited on a dedicated isotope separator beamline. To allow for the release and collection of a specific radionuclide of medical interest, each target is heated to temperatures of up to 2,300°C. The created ions are extracted and accelerated to an energy up to 60 kV, and the beam steered through an off-line sector field magnet mass separator. This is followed by the extraction of the radionuclide of interest through mass separation and its subsequent implantation into a collection foil. In addition, the MELISSA (MEDICIS Laser Ion Source Setup At CERN) laser laboratory, in service since April 2019, helps to increase the separation efficiency and the selectivity. After collection, the implanted radionuclides are dispatched to the biomedical research centers, participating in the CERN-MEDICIS collaboration, for Research & Development in imaging or treatment. Since its commissioning, the CERN-MEDICIS facility has provided its partner institutes with non-conventional medical radionuclides such as Tb-149, Tb-152, Tb-155, Sm-153, Tm-165, Tm-167, Er-169, Yb-175, and Ac-225 with a high specific activity. This article provides a review of the achievements and milestones of CERN-MEDICIS since it has produced its first radioactive isotope in December 2017, with a special focus on its most recent operation in 2020. ispartof: FRONTIERS IN MEDICINE vol:8 ispartof: location:Switzerland status: published

A porous pre-sintered hexagonal boron nitride powder compact was recently developed as target for the production of intense 11C beams for Positron Emission Tomography-aided hadron therapy. In a previous study, this target has been characterized regarding its operational limitations. In this work, microstructural characterization with respect to the target's grain size, porosity and pore structure, and a dedicated fractional release study from activated targets, i.e. how much 11C is extracted by a short heat treatment, is presented. Corresponding results include an average grain size of approximately 1.7(1) μm, total and open porosity of 40(5) and 21(7)%, respectively, which is mostly composed of pores with sizes ranging from 120 to 470 nm. From the measured release fraction the order of magnitude of carbon's diffusion coefficient D(1500 °C) = 10−15 − 10−14 cm2 s−1 in porous boron nitride, and a 11C extraction efficiency of about 10% at 1500 °C target temperature were estimated.

$^{175}$Yb is a radionuclide that can be generated by neutron capture on $^{174}$Yb and whose decay properties make it useful for developing therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals. As it happens with many of the emerging radionuclides for medical uses in recent years, its nuclear data were determined decades ago and are not thoroughly documented nor accurate enough for metrological purposes. The last documented reference for the $^{175}$Yb half-life value is 4.185(1) days and dates back to 1989, so a redetermination of the value was considered appropriate before standardization at the Institute of Radiation Physics (IRA, Lausanne, Switzerland) primary measurements laboratory. Three independent measurement methods were used to this purpose: reference ionization chamber (CIR, $chambre$ $d'ionization$ $de$ $référence$), CeBr$_{3}$ γ-ray detector with digital electronics and a second CeBr$_{3}$ detector with analog electronics and single-channel analyzer (SCA) counting. The value obtained for the $^{175}$Yb half-life is 4.1615(30) days which shows a 0.56% relative deviation to the last nuclear reference value (ENSDF 2004) and is supported with a detailed calculation of the associated uncertainty.

5 pags., 3 figs., 1 tab. -- Open Access funded by Creative Commons Atribution Licence 4.0, Gamow-Teller β decay is forbidden if the number of nodes in the radial wave functions of the initial and final states is different. This Δn=0 requirement plays a major role in the β decay of heavy neutron-rich nuclei, affecting the nucleosynthesis through the increased half-lives of nuclei on the astrophysical r-process pathway below both Z=50 (for N>82) and Z=82 (for N>126). The level of forbiddenness of the Δn=1ν1g →π0g transition has been investigated from the β decay of the ground state of Hg into the single-proton-hole nucleus Tl in an experiment at the ISOLDE Decay Station. From statistical observational limits on possible γ-ray transitions depopulating the π0g state in Tl, an upper limit of 3.9×10 % was obtained for the probability of this decay, corresponding to log⁡ft>8.8 within a 95% confidence limit. This is the most stringent test of the Δn=0 selection rule to date., Support from the European Union seventh framework through ENSAR contract no. 262010, the Science and Technology Facilities Council through grants ST/P005314/1, ST/L005743/1 and ST/J000051/1 (UK), the MINECO projects FPA2015-64969-P, FPA2015-65035-P and FPA2017-87568-P (Spain), FWO-Vlaanderen (Belgium), GOA/2015/010 (BOF KU Leuven), the Excellence of Science programme (EOS-FWO), and the Interuniversity Attraction Poles Programme initiated by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BriX network P7/12) is acknowledged. ZsP acknowledges support by the ExtreMe Matter Institute EMMI at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt, Germany. PHR and SMJ ac-knowledge support from the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy via the National Measurement Office.

The development of a highly efficient resonance ionization scheme for lutetium is presented. A laser ion source, based on the all-solid-state Titanium:sapphire laser system, was used at the 30 keV RISIKO off-line mass separator to characterize different possible optical excitation schemes in respect to their ionization efficiency. The developed laser resonance ionization scheme can be directly applied to the use at radioactive ion beam facilities, e. g. at the CERN-MEDICIS facility, for large-scale production of medical radioisotopes.

The structure of Po-208 populated through the EC/beta(+) decay of At-208 is investigated using gamma-ray spectroscopy at the ISOLDE Decay Station. The presented level scheme contains 27 new excited states and 43 new transitions, as well as a further 50 previously observed. rays which have been (re)assigned a position. The level scheme is compared to shell model calculations. Through this analysis approximately half of the beta-decay strength of At-208 is found to proceed via allowed decay and half via first-forbidden decay. The first-forbidden transitions predominantly populate core excited states at high excitation energies, which is qualitatively understood using shell model considerations. This mass region provides an excellent testing ground for the competition between allowed and first-forbidden beta-decay calculations, important for the detailed understanding of the nucleosynthesis of heavy elements.

The β decay of ^{208}Hg into the one-proton hole, one neutron-particle _{81}^{208}Tl_{127} nucleus was investigated at CERN-ISOLDE. Shell-model calculations describe well the level scheme deduced, validating the proton-neutron interactions used, with implications for the whole of the N>126, Z

Six cylindrical lead bismuth eutectic (LBE) targets having fixed diameter of 6 mm and varying lengths of 8–50 mm were irradiated with a 1.4 GeV proton beam at CERN-ISOLDE. Both short-lived ( $$5\hbox { h } {}5\hbox { days}$$ ) radionuclides were identified by off-line $$\upgamma $$ -spectrometry and their activities at the end of bombardment (EOB) were determined. Total 80 $$\upgamma $$ -emitting radionuclides, ranging from $$^{7}\hbox {Be}$$ to $$^{209}\hbox {At}$$ , were identified in the 50 mm long LBE target. The yields of all the radioisotopes were compared with the Monte Carlo Code FLUKA. The spallation reaction was the dominant mode whereas fission induced reactions had no significant contribution. The high energy proton irradiated LBE target may act as a large source of several clinically important and other exotic radionuclides.

The β decay of 207Hg into the single-proton-hole nucleus 207Tl has been studied through γ-ray spectroscopy at the ISOLDE Decay Station (IDS) with the aim of identifying states resulting from coupling of the πs−11/2, πd−13/2, and πh−111/2 shell model orbitals to the collective octupole vibration. Twenty-two states were observed lying between 2.6 and 4.0 MeV, eleven of which were observed for the first time, and 78 new transitions were placed. Two octupole states (s1/2-coupled) are identified and three more states (d3/2-coupled) are tentatively assigned using spin-parity inferences, while further h11/2-coupled states may also have been observed for the first time. Comparisons are made with state-of-the-art large-scale shell model calculations and previous observations made in this region, and systematic underestimation of the energy of the octupole vibrational states is noted. We suggest that in order to resolve the difference in predicted energies for collective and noncollective t=1 states (t is the number of nucleons breaking the 208Pb core), the effect of t=2 mixing may be reduced for octupole-coupled states. The inclusion of mixing with t=0,2,3 excitations is necessary to replicate all t=1 state energies accurately.

6 pags., 6 figs. -- 27th International Nuclear Physics Conference (INPC2019) 29 July - 2 August 2019, Glasgow, UK, The neutron-deficient 115Cs was produced at ISOLDE, CERN by spallation reaction using 1.4 GeV proton on LaC2 target. The exotic decay modes were studied by using a charged particle array (DSSD and pad detectors) and a ¿-detector array (four Clovers) at the ISOLDE decay station (IDS). In this report, results on observed ß-delayed particle emission from 115Cs, a nucleus close to proton drip line, is presented. By measuring the time distribution in the delayed proton spectrum, the half-life of the ground state of 115Cs was extracted. The obtained half-life is in agreement with previous reported value. For the first time, the p-unbound states of 115Xe, obtained by measuring beta-delayed protons from 115Cs is reported., Ushasi Datta acknowledges with thanks to SERB, India for the financial support (travel) for attending and presenting the paper in the conference (INPC2019). Authors of SINP deeply acknowledge the SEND (XI th plan, DAE, India) and IENP/HENPP (XII th plan, DAE, India) project grant. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 ENSAR2 project under grant agreement no 654002 and the Spanish research council under contract FPA2015-64969-P. The authors (P.Das and A.Bhattacharyya) acknowledge with thanks the financial support provided by the CSIR vide file number 09/489(0111)/2019EMR-I and 09/489(0115)/2019EMR-I respectively.

The Resonance Ionization Laser Ion Source (RILIS) has become an essential feature of many radioactive ion beam facilities worldwide since it offers an unmatched combination of efficiency and selectivity in the production of ion beams of many different chemical elements. In 2019, the laser ion source setup MELISSA is going to be established at the CERN-MEDICIS facility, based on the experience of the workgroup LARISSA of the University Mainz and CERN ISOLDE RILIS team. The purpose is to enhance the capability of the radioactive ion beam supply for end users by optimizing the yield and the purity of the final product. In this article, the blueprint of the laser ion source, as well as the key aspects of its development and operation are presented. The Resonance Ionization Laser Ion Source (RILIS) has become an essential feature of many radioactive ion beamfacilities worldwide since it offers an unmatched combination of efficiency and selectivity in the production ofion beams of many different chemical elements. In 2019, the laser ion source setup MELISSA is going to beestablished at the CERN-MEDICIS facility, based on the experience of the workgroup LARISSA of the UniversityMainz and CERN ISOLDE RILIS team. The purpose is to enhance the capability of the radioactive ion beamsupply for end users by optimizing the yield and the purity of the final product. In this article, the blueprint ofthe laser ion source, as well as the key aspects of its development and operation are presented.

We report the first ionization potentials (IP1) of the heavy actinides, fermium (Fm, atomic number Z = 100), mendelevium (Md, Z = 101), nobelium (No, Z = 102), and lawrencium (Lr, Z = 103), determined using a method based on a surface ionization process coupled to an online mass separation technique in an atom-at-a-time regime. The measured IP1 values agree well with those predicted by state-of-the-art relativistic calculations performed alongside the present measurements. Similar to the well-established behavior for the lanthanides, the IP1 values of the heavy actinides up to No increase with filling up the 5f orbital, while that of Lr is the lowest among the actinides. These results clearly demonstrate that the 5f orbital is fully filled at No with the [Rn]5f(14)7s(2) configuration and that Lr has a weakly bound electron outside the No core. In analogy to the lanthanide series, the present results unequivocally verify that the actinide series ends with Lr.

The European physical journal / C Particles and fields C 79(12), 1026 (2019). doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-7513-x, Published by Springer, Heidelberg

This manuscript describes the production of three targets obtained by implantation of different activities of 7 Be into thin aluminium disks. Two of the produced targets were used to measure the 7 Be(n, p) 7 Li cross section in the energy range of interest for the Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis. A third target was used to measure the cross sections of 7 Be(n, p) 7 Li and 7 Be(n, α ) 7 Li nuclear reactions with cold and thermal neutrons, respectively. This paper describes also the characterization of the first two targets, performed after the neutron irradiation, in terms of implanted 7 Be activities and spatial distributions.

Several experiments on the study of the electron neutrino mass are based on high-statistics measurements of the energy spectrum following electron capture of the radionuclide 163Ho. They rely on the availability of large, radiochemically pure samples of 163Ho. Here, we describe the production, separation, characterization, and sample production within the Electron Capture in Holmium-163 (ECHo) project. 163Ho has been produced by thermal neutron activation of enriched, prepurified 162Er targets in the high flux reactor of the Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France, in irradiations lasting up to 54 days. Irradiated targets were chemically processed by means of extraction chromatography, which allowed separating the formed Ho from the 162Er target-material and from the main byproducts 170Tm and 171Tm, which are co-produced in GBq amounts. Decontamination factors of >500 for Er and of >105 for Tm and yields of 3.6·1016 and 1.2·1018 atoms of 163Ho were obtained, corresponding to a recovery yield of 95 % of Ho in the chemical separation. The Ho-fraction was characterized by means of γ-ray spectrometry, Inductively-Coupled-Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometry (RIMS) and Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA). In this process, the thermal neutron capture cross section of 163Ho was measured to σHo-163 to Ho-164m= (23±3) b and σHo-163 to Ho-164g= (156±9) b for the formation of the two isomers of 164Ho. Specific samples were produced for further purification by mass separation to isolate 163Ho from the Ho-isotope mixture, as needed for obtaining the energy spectrum within ECHo. The partial efficiency for this second separation step is (32±5) %.

Ti-foils are currently used as a spallation target material to produce radioisotopes for physics research at the ISOLDE facility at CERN. However, radioisotope production rates often decrease over time due to material degradation from high operation temperatures. Due to enhanced release rates, porous nanomaterials are being studied as spallation target materials for isotope production. TiC is a material with a very high melting point making it an interesting material to replace the Ti-foils. However, in its nanometric form it sinters readily at high temperatures. To overcome this, a new processing route was developed where TiC was co-milled with graphite, carbon black or multi-wall carbon nanotubes in order to hinder the sintering of TiC. The obtained nanocomposite particle sizes, density, specific surface area and porosity were characterized and compared using ANOVA. All carbon allotropes mixed with the TiC, were able to successfully stabilize the nanometric TiC, hindering its sintering up to 1500 °C for 10 h.

This article summarizes the results obtained studying the interaction between polonium and stainless steel 316L in different atmospheres by the thermochromatography method. This issue is particularly important in terms of licensing of the MYRRHA prototype ADS reactor, where highly radiotoxic α-emitting polonium isotopes are produced in lead-bismuth eutectic used as both spallation target material and coolant, while stainless steel 316L is going to be the main structural material. The polonium adsorption enthalpy on stainless steel 316L in inert atmosphere was measured as −147±6 kJ mol−1. The findings obtained using reducing atmospheres show that the affinity of polonium for stainless steel 316L increases with the metallic character of the stainless steel surface. The presence of moisture in inert and reducing atmosphere does not significantly influence the polonium adsorption. Oxidizing atmospheres induce the formation of polonium dioxide which has a stronger interaction with the stainless steel 316L, with an adsorption enthalpy of −225±6 kJ mol−1. A prolonged exposure of the stainless steel to strong oxidants, such as pure oxygen, reduces the metallic character of the stainless steel surface and, consequently, its affinity to the polonium oxide. Furthermore, it was found that in all experiments at least 5 ppm of the total polonium present in the starting material were not retained on the stainless steel 316L surface at all.

The production of selenium ion beams has been investigated at the CERN-ISOLDE facility via two different ionization methods. Whilst molecular selenium (SeCO) beams were produced at ISOLDE since the early 1990s, recent attempts at reliably reproducing these results have so far been unsuccessful. Here we report on tests of a step-wise resonance laser ionization scheme for atomic selenium using the ISOLDE Resonance Ionization Laser Ion Source (RILIS). For stable selenium an ionization efficiency of 1% was achieved. During the first on-line radioisotope production tests, a yield of $ \approx 2.4 \times 10^4$≈2.4×104 ions/μC was measured for 71Se+, using a ZrO2 target with an electron impact ion source. In parallel, an approach for extraction of molecular carbonyl selenide (SeCO) beams was tested. The same ion source and target material were used and a maximum yield of $ \approx 3.6\times 10^5$≈3.6×105 ions/μ C of 71SeCO+ was measured.

The structure of $^{34}$Si was studied through $\gamma$ spectroscopy separately in the $\beta^-$ decays of $^{34}$Mg and $^{34}$Al at the ISOLDE facility of CERN. Different configurations in $^{34}$Si were populated independently from the two recently identified $\beta$-decaying states in $^{34}$Al having spin-parity assignments $J^\pi = 4^-$ dominated by the normal configuration $\pi (d_{5/2})^{-1} \otimes \nu (f_{7/2})$ and $J^\pi = 1^+$ by the intruder configuration $\pi (d_{5/2})^{-1} \otimes \nu (d_{3/2})^{-1}(f_{7/2})^{2}$. The paper reports on spectroscopic properties of $^{34}$Si such as an extended level scheme, spin and parity assignments based on log($ft$) values and $\gamma$-ray branching ratios, absolute $\beta$ feeding intensities and neutron emission probabilities. A total of 11 newly identified levels and 26 transitions were added to the previously known level scheme of $^{34}$Si. Large scale shell-model calculations using the {\sc sdpf-u-mix} interaction, able to treat higher order intruder configurations, are compared with the new results and conclusions are drawn concerning the predictive power of {\sc sdpf-u-mix}, the $N=20$ shell gap, the level of mixing between normal and intruder configurations for the 0$_1^+$, 0$_2^+$ and 2$_1^+$ states and the absence of triaxial deformation in $^{34}$Si.

11 pags., 9 figs., 3 tabs. -- Open Access funded by Creative Commons Atribution Licence 4.0, We report on the development and characterization of the first radioactive boron beams produced by the isotope mass separation online (ISOL) technique at CERN-ISOLDE. Despite the long history of the ISOL technique which exploits thick targets, boron beams have up to now not been available. This is due to the low volatility of elemental boron and its high chemical reactivity which make the definition of an appropriate production target unit difficult. In addition, the short half-lives of all boron radioisotopes complicate tracer release studies. We report here on dedicated offline release studies by neutron capture and alpha detection done with implanted B in prospective target materials, as well as molecule formation and ionization tests, which suggested the use of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNT) as target material and injection of sulfur hexafluoride SF to promote volatile boron fluoride formation. Two target units equipped with an arc discharge electron impact ion source VADIS coupled to a water cooled transfer line to retain non-volatile elements and molecules were subsequently tested online. The measured yield of these first B ISOL beams increases in the series BF < BF < B < BF , reaching a maximum yield of 6. 4 × 10 BF ions per μC of protons., This work has been partly supported by the Spanish CICYT through projects, FPA2015-64969-P, and by the European Union by means of the European Commission within its Seventh Framework Program (FP7) via ENSAR (Contract No. 262010). Further, this project has received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 654002. One of the authors, CS, acknowledges support by the German BMBF via the Gentner program and his local project 05P12RDCIA.

Over the past 20 years, we observed an increasing demand of precise and reliable experimental nuclear data in a number of scientific research fields like nuclear astrophysics, basic nuclear physics, nuclear medicine, geoscience, super heavy element research, and others. This demand induces also in an increasing number of requests for high-quality sample material in sufficient amounts and well-known isotopic composition, manufactured in a shape suitable for the specific envisaged application. The desired samples very often represent or contain rare radioactive isotopes, which are very exotic and available in limited amounts only. In dependence on their activity and/or dose rate, the handling of such samples can be extremely challenging. Thus, only a handful of laboratories worldwide are allowed and capable to work with this kind of material. Correspondingly high is the number of requests and waiting lists for sample and target preparation, even if the isotope itself is available in sufficient amounts.

For the first time, the laser resonance photo-ionization technique has been applied inside a FEBIAD-type ion source at an ISOL facility. This was achieved by combining the ISOLDE RILIS with the ISOLDE variant of the FEBIAD ion source (the VADIS) in a series of off-line and on-line tests at CERN. The immediate appli- cations of these developments include the coupling of the RILIS with molten targets at ISOLDE and the introduction of two new modes of FEBIAD operation: an element selective RILIS mode and a RILIS + VADIS mode for increased efficiency compared to VADIS mode operation alone. This functionality has been demonstrated off-line for gallium and barium and on-line for mercury and cadmium. Following this work, the RILIS mode of operation was successfully applied on-line for the study of nuclear ground state and isomer properties of mercury isotopes by in-source resonance ionization laser spectroscopy. The results from the first studies of the new operational modes, of what has been termed the Versatile Arc Discharge and Laser Ion Source (VADLIS), are presented and possible directions for future developments are outlined. publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Blurring the boundaries between ion sources: The application of the RILIS inside a FEBIAD type ion source at ISOLDE journaltitle: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2016.03.005 content_type: article copyright: © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. ispartof: Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research B vol:376 pages:39-45 ispartof: location:Grand Rapids: MI status: published

GANIL/SPIRAL facility/FEBIAD; International audience; The SPIRAL facility at GANIL is being upgraded with a new FEBIAD ion source in order to extend its productioncapabilities to condensable elements. The coupling of such an ion source with the present GANILtarget was recently tested online at SPIRAL at nominal power (1200 W). The results are promising as thecalculated yields are in the range of those extrapolated from previous measurements at lower power andsometimes higher. This experiment and its results are presented.

Hadron therapy was first proposed in 1946 and is by now widespread throughout the world, as witnessed with the design and construction of the CNAO, HIT, PROSCAN and MedAustron treatment centres, among others. The clinical interest in hadron therapy lies in the fact that it delivers precision treatment of tumours, exploiting the characteristic shape (the Bragg peak) of the energy deposition in the tissues for charged hadrons. In particular, carbon ion therapy is found to be biologically more effective, with respect to protons, on certain types of tumours. Following an approach tested at NIRS in Japan [1], carbon ion therapy treatments based on C-12 could be combined or fully replaced with C-11 PET radioactive ions post-accelerated to the same energy. This approach allows providing a beam for treatment and, at the same time, to collect information on the 3D distributions of the implanted ions by PET imaging. The production of C-11 ion beams can be performed using two methods. A first one is based on the production using compact PET cyclotrons with 10-20 MeV protons via N-14(p,alpha)C-11 reactions following an approach developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory [2]. A second route exploits spallation reactions F-19(p,X)C-11 and Na-23(p,X)C-11 on a molten fluoride salt target using the ISOL (isotope separation on-line) technique [3]. This approach can be seriously envisaged at CERN-ISOLDE following recent progresses made on C-11(+) production [4] and proven post-acceleration of pure C-10(3/6+) beams in the REX-ISOLDE linac [5]. Part of the required components is operational in radioactive ion beam facilities or commercial medical PET cyclotrons. The driver could be a 70 MeV, 1.2 mA proton commercial cyclotron, which would lead to 8.1 x 10(7) C-11(6+) per spill. This intensity is appropriate using C-11 ions alone for both imaging and treatment. Here we report on the ongoing feasibility studies of such approach, using the Monte Carlo particle transport code FLUKA [6,7] to simulate pristine Bragg Peaks of C-11, in order to compare its performance with C-12, in the context of hadron therapy. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Five different nanostructured target materials were tested and operated at ISOLDE in the year of 2014, three of them being carbon-based nanocomposites. In most cases such target materials have higher radioisotope intensities than standard targets and with apparently longer release characteristics. Here, an isotope release profile from a standard calcium oxide (CaO) powder target is compared to the nanostructured one. For all target materials, the synthesis is the key process since it determines the material characteristics and maximum operation temperature which, in turn, defines the final isotope yields (especially for exotic isotopes). An unexpected release of Ar isotopes from a nanometric CaO powder target, with its oven set to room temperature is described and a release mechanism is proposed: spallation recoil momentum from the Ca-nat(p,x)Ar-35 reaction. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Since 2001, the SPIRAL 1 facility has been one of the pioneering facilities in ISOL techniques for reaccelerating radioactive ion beams: the fragmentation of the heavy ion beams of GANIL on graphite targets and subsequent ionization in the Nanogan ECR ion source has permitted to deliver beams of gaseous elements (He, N, O, F, Ne, Ar, Kr) to numerous experiments. Thanks to the CIME cyclotron, energies up to 20 AMeV could be obtained. In 2014, the facility was stopped to undertake a major upgrade, with the aim to extend the production capabilities of SPIRAL 1 to a number of new elements. This upgrade, which is presently under commissioning, consists in the integration of an ECR booster in the SPIRAL 1 beam line to charge breed the beam of different 1+ sources. A FEBIAD source (the so-called VADIS from ISOLDE) was chosen to be the future workhorse for producing many metallic ion beams. The charge breeder is an upgraded version of the Phoenix booster which was previously tested in ISOLDE. The performances of the aforementioned ingredients of the upgrade (targets, 1+ source and charge breeder) have been and are still being optimized in the frame of different European projects (EMILIE, ENSAR and ENSAR2). The upgraded SPIRAL 1 facility will provide soon its first new beams for physics and further beam development are undertaken to prepare for the next AGATA campaign. The results obtained during the on-line commissioning period permit to evaluate intensities for new beams from the upgraded facility., 9 pages, 12 figures, conference proceedings of EMIS 2018, CERN, Geneva, to appear in Nuclear Instruments and Methods B

The MEDICIS-PROMED Innovative Training Network under the Horizon 2020 EU program aims to establish a network of early stage researchers, involving scientific exchange and active cooperation between leading European research institutions, universities, hospitals, and industry. Primary scientific goal is the purpose of providing and testing novel radioisotopes for nuclear medical imaging and radionuclide therapy. Within a closely linked project at CERN, a dedicated electromagnetic mass separator system is presently under installation for production of innovative radiopharmaceutical isotopes at the new CERN-MEDICIS laboratory, directly adjacent to the existing CERN-ISOLDE radioactive ion beam facility. It is planned to implement a resonance ionization laser ion source (RILIS) to ensure high efficiency and unrivaled purity in the production of radioactive ions. To provide a highly efficient ionization process, identification and characterization of a specific multi-step laser ionization scheme for each individual element with isotopes of interest is required. The element lutetium is of primary relevance, and therefore was considered as first candidate. Three two-step excitation schemes for lutetium atoms are presented in this work, and spectroscopic results are compared with data of other authors. © 2017, Springer International Publishing Switzerland.

The neutron-deficient ${}^{\mathrm{196,198}}$Pb isotopes have been studied in Coulomb-excitation experiments employing the Miniball γ-ray spectrometer and radioactive ion beams from the REX-ISOLDE post-accelerator at CERN. The reduced transition probabilities of the first excited 2+ states in 196Pb and 198Pb nuclei have been measured for the first time. Values of $B(E2)={18.2}_{-4.1}^{+4.8}$ W.u. and $B(E2)={13.1}_{-3.5}^{+4.9}$ W.u., were obtained, respectively. The experiment sheds light on the development of collectivity when moving from the regime governed by the generalised seniority scheme to a region, where intruding structures, associated with different deformed shapes, start to come down in energy and approach the spherical ground state. journal_title: Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics article_type: paper article_title: Collectivity in ${}^{\mathrm{196,198}}$Pb isotopes probed in Coulomb-excitation experiments at REX-ISOLDE copyright_information: © 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd date_received: 2016-10-31 date_accepted: 2017-03-17 date_epub: 2017-05-03 ispartof: Journal of Physics G, Nuclear and Particle Physics vol:44 issue:6 status: published

A new facility, named CERN-MEDICIS, is under construction at CERN to produce radionuclides for medical applications. In parallel, the MEDICIS-PROMED, a Marie Sklodowska-Curie innovative training network of the Horizon 2020 European Commission‘s program, is being coordinated by CERN to train young scientists on the production and use of innovative radionuclides and develop a network of experts within Europe. One program within MEDICIS-PROMED is to determine the feasibility of producing innovative radioisotopes for theranostics using a commercial middle-sized high-current cyclotron and the mass separation technology developed at CERN-MEDICIS. This will allow the production of high specific activity radioisotopes not achievable with the common post-processing by chemical separation. Radioisotopes of scandium, copper, arsenic and terbium have been identified. Preliminary studies of activation yield and irradiation parameters optimization for the production of Tb-149 will be described.

In the framework of the Beta Beams project, a molten fluoride target has been proposed for the production of the required 1013 18Ne/s. The production and extraction of such rates are predicted to be possible on a circulating molten salt with 160 MeV proton beams at close to 1 MW power. As a most important step to validate the concept, a prototype has been designed and investigated at CERN-ISOLDE using a static target unit. The target material consisted of a binary fluoride system, NaF:LiF (39:61 mol.%), with melting point at 649 °C. The production of Ne beams has been monitored as a function of the target temperature and proton beam intensity. The prototype development and the results of the first online tests with 1.4 GeV proton beam are presented in this paper. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The electromagnetic structure of 140Sm was studied in a low-energy Coulomb excitation experiment with a radioactive ion beam from the REX-ISOLDE facility at CERN. The 2+ and 4+ states of the ground-state band and a second 2+ state were populated by multistep excitation. The analysis of the differential Coulomb excitation cross sections yielded reduced transition probabilities between all observed states and the spectroscopic quadrupole moment for the 2+ 1 state. The experimental results are compared to large-scale shell model calculations and beyond-mean-field calculations based on the Gogny D1S interaction with a five-dimensional collective Hamiltonian formalism. Simpler geometric and algebraic models are also employed to interpret the experimental data. The results indicate that 140Sm shows considerable γ softness, but in contrast to earlier speculation no signs of shape coexistence at low excitation energy. This work sheds more light on the onset of deformation and collectivity in this mass region. 15 pages, 12 figures ispartof: Physical Review C vol:93 issue:5 status: published

International audience; In the framework of a R&D program aiming to develop uranium carbide (UCx) targets for radioactive nuclear beams, the Institut de Physique Nucléaire d’Orsay (IPNO) has developed an experimental setup to characterize the release of various fission fragments from UCx samples at high temperature. The results obtained in a previous study have demonstrated the feasibility of the method and started to correlate the structural properties of the samples and their behavior in terms of nuclear reaction product release. In the present study, seven UCx samples have been systematically characterized in order to better understand the correlation between their physicochemical characteristics and release properties. Two very different samples, the first one composed of dense UC and the second one of highly porous UCx made of multi-wall carbon nanotubes, were provided by the ActILab (ENSAR) collaboration. The others were synthesized at IPNO. The systems for irradiation and heating necessary for the release studies have been improved with respect to those used in previous studies. The results show that the open porosity is hardly the limiting factor for the fission product release. The homogeneity of the microstructure and the pore size distribution contributes significantly to the increase of the release. The use of carbon nanotubes in place of traditional micrometric graphite particles appears to be promising, even if the homogeneity of the microstructure can still be enhanced

At ISAC-TRIUMF, a 500 MeV proton beam is impinged upon "thick" targets to induce nuclear reactions to produce reaction products that are delivered as a Radioactive Ion Beam (RIB) to experiments. Uranium carbide is among the most commonly used target materials which produces a vast radionuclide inventory coming from both spallation and fission-events. This can also represent a major limitation for the successful delivery of certain RIBs to experiments since, for a given mass, many isobaric isotopes are to be filtered by the dipole mass separator. These contaminants can exceed the yield of the isotope of interest by orders of magnitude, often causing a significant reduction in the sensitivity of experiments or even making them impossible. The design of a 50 kW proton-to-neutron (p2n) converter-target is ongoing to enhance the production of neutron-rich nuclei while significantly reducing the rate of neutron-deficient contaminants. The converter is made out of a bulk tungsten block which converts proton beams into neutrons through spallation. The neutrons, in turn, induce pure fission in an upstream UCx target. The present target design and the service infra-structure needed for its operation will be discussed in this paper.

The ISOLDE facility has undergone numerous changes over the last 17 years driven by both the physics and technical community with a common goal to improve on beam variety, beam quality and safety. Improvements have been made in civil engineering and operational equipment while continuing developments aim to ensure operations following a potential increase in primary beam intensity and energy. This paper outlines the principal technical changes incurred at ISOLDE by building on a similar publication of the facility upgrades by Kugler (2000 Hyperfine Interact. 129 23–42). It also provides an insight into future perspectives through a brief summary issues addressed in the HIE-ISOLDE design study Catherall et al (2013 Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B 317 204–207).

New silicon carbide (SiC) and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) of a tailor-made microstructure were produced using the ice-templating technique, which permits controlled pore formation conditions within the material. These prototypes will serve to verify aging of the new advanced target materials under irradiation with proton beams. Before this, the evaluation of their mechanical integrity was made based on the energy deposition spectra produced by FLUKA codes., 8 pages, 3 figures

International audience; A crucial requirement in the development of liquid-metal spallation neutron target is knowledge of the composition and amount of volatile radionuclides that are released from the target during operation. It is also important to know the total amount produced, which could be released if there was an accident. One type is the lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) target where different radionuclides can be produced following interaction with a high-energy proton beam, notably noble gases (Ar, Kr, Xe isotopes) and other relative volatile isotopes such as Hg and At. The results of an irradiation experiment performed at ISOLDE on a LBE target are compared with predictions from the MCNPX code using the latest developments on the Li'ege Intranuclear Cascade model (INCL4.6) and the CEM03 model. The calculations are able to reproduce the mass distribution of the radioisotopes produced, including the At production, where there is a significant contribution from secondary reactions. Subsequently, a post-irradiation examination of the irradiated target was performed. Investigations of both the tantalum target structure, in particular the beam window, and the leadbismuth eutectic were performed using several experimental techniques. No sign of severe irradiation damage, previously observed in other ISOLDE targets, was found.

There is strong circumstantial evidence that certain heavy, unstable atomic nuclei are ‘octupole deformed’, that is, distorted into a pear shape. This contrasts with the more prevalent rugby-ball shape of nuclei with reflection-symmetric, quadrupole deformations. The elusive octupole deformed nuclei are of importance for nuclear structure theory, and also in searches for physics beyond the standard model; any measurable electric-dipole moment (a signature of the latter) is expected to be amplified in such nuclei. Here we determine electric octupole transition strengths (a direct measure of octupole correlations) for short-lived isotopes of radon and radium. Coulomb excitation experiments were performed using accelerated beams of heavy, radioactive ions. Our data on 220Rn and 224Ra show clear evidence for stronger octupole deformation in the latter. The results enable discrimination between differing theoretical approaches to octupole correlations, and help to constrain suitable candidates for experimental studies of atomic electric-dipole moments that might reveal extensions to the standard model. An experimental study of certain short-lived isotopes of radon and radium has found clear octupole deformation in the nuclei of the latter — that is, these nuclei are pear-shaped; the results enable discrimination between differing theoretical approaches to octupole correlations. The atomic nucleus is a many-body quantum system with a shape determined by the number of nucleons that it contains and the interactions between them. Most of the several thousand known stable and radioactive atomic nuclei, with differing numbers of protons and neutrons, are spherical or rugby-ball shaped. But there is circumstantial evidence that some heavy, unstable nuclides are distorted into a pear shape through the phenomenon of octupole deformation. Samples of these rare atomic species can be accelerated to 8% of the speed of light in the REX-ISOLDE facility at CERN, and now Coulomb excitation experiments on beams of the short-lived isotopes radium-224 and radon-220 have demonstrated clear octupole deformation in the former. The results make it possible to discriminate between the various theoretical models of octupole-deformed nuclei, and are also relevant to the pursuit of physics beyond the Standard Model.

Background: Quadrupole moments of excited nuclear states are important observables for geometrically interpreting nuclear structure in terms of deformed shapes, although data are scarce and sometimes ambiguous, in particular, in neutron-rich nuclides. Purpose: A measurement was performed for determining the spectroscopic quadrupole moment of the 21+ state of 140Ba in order to clarify the character of quadrupole deformation (prolate or oblate) of the state in its yrast sequence of levels. Method: We have utilized a new combined technique of lifetime measurement at REX-ISOLDE and MINIBALL using the Doppler-shift attenuation method (DSAM) and a reorientation analysis of Coulomb-excitation yields. Results: On the basis of the new lifetime of τ(21+)=10.4-0.8+2.2 ps the electric quadrupole moment was determined to be Q(21+)=-0.52(34) eb, indicating a predominant prolate deformation. Conclusions: This finding is in agreement with beyond-mean-field calculations using the Gogny D1S force and with results from the Monte Carlo shell-model approach, This experiment was supported by the BMBF (06DA9036I, 06DA9041I, 06DA7046, 06MT238, 06MT9156, 06ML234, 06KY205I, 06KY9136I), RII3-EURONS (Contract No. 506065), HIC for FAIR, Grants-in-Aid for Young Scientists (20740127) from JSPS, the SPIRE Field 5 from MEXT (Japan), and the MINIBALL and ISOLDE Collaborations

GANISOL Group; International audience; The SPIRAL facility at GANIL, which uses the so-called ISOL method to produce radioactive ion beams, is being upgraded to extend its production capabilities to the metallic beams of neutron deficient isotopes. We discuss here the potentialities offered by this upgrade for the measurement of the β - ν angular correlation in the β - decay of mirror nuclides.

The Beta-Beam is a concept of large-scale facility that aims at providing pure electronic neutrino and antineutrino beams for the measurement of $ \nu_{e}^{}$ $ \rightarrow$ $ \nu_{\mu}^{}$ oscillations. Beta-decaying nuclides are produced in large amounts in a facility of the scale of EURISOL, and are then post-accelerated and stored at large $ \gamma$ in a racetrack decay ring. We present here a conceptual design of the accelerator chain of a Beta-Beam based at CERN.

Three new ionization schemes for polonium have been tested with the resonant ionization laser ion source (RILIS) during the on-line production of 196Po in a UCx target at ISOLDE. The saturation of the atomic transitions has been observed and the yields of the isotope chain 193–198,200,202,204Po have been measured. This development provides the necessary groundwork for performing in-source resonant ionization spectroscopy on the neutron-deficient polonium isotopes (Z = 84). ispartof: Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research B vol:266 issue:19 pages:4403-4406 ispartof: location:FRANCE, Deauville status: published

Exploration of the physics involved in the production of cosmogenic radionuclides requires experiments using the same rare, radioactive nuclei in sufficient quantities. For this work, such exotic radionuclides have been extracted from previously proton-irradiated stainless steel samples using wet chemistry separation techniques. The irradiated construction material has arisen from an extended material research programme at the Paul Scherrer Institute, called STIP (SINQ Target Irradiation Program), where several thousand samples of different materials were irradiated with protons and neutrons of energies up to 570 MeV. In total, 8 × 1017 atoms of 44Ti, ∼1016 atoms of 26Al and ∼1019 atoms of 53Mn are available from selected samples. These materials may now be used to produce targets or radioactive beams for nuclear reaction studies with protons, neutrons and α-particles. The work is part of the ERAWAST initiative (Exotic Radionuclides from Accelerator Waste for Science and Technology), aimed at facilitating new collaborations between the isotope producers and users from different scientific fields including nuclear astrophysics.

This work presents the production and extraction of the short-lived radionuclide 6He in yet unmatched yields from the ISOLDE facility at CERN. It is the first report of 6He production using spallation neutrons via the 9Be(n, ?)6He reaction. These neutrons are produced from the 1.4?GeV proton beam of the Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB) striking a tungsten converter, and are impinging on a porous BeO material. The central position of 6He in future experiments is due to its role as a necessary radioactive nucleus to realize the ?-beam at CERN, a next-generation facility to study neutrino oscillation parameters, and hence neutrino masses. In the ?-beam scenario, an intense beam of radioactive 6He nuclei will be produced, accelerated to multi-GeV energies and stored in a dedicated storage ring. The resulting virtually mono-directional anti-neutrino beam from the decay of the stored 6He nuclei will be directed towards a remote underground neutrino detector. A similar beam of, e.g., 18Ne will provide neutrinos, an ideal concept to test CP violation in the neutrino sector. The results of the present experiment demonstrate for the first time that the necessary conditions for the realization of the proposed ?-beam scheme with anti-neutrinos can be fulfilled.

© 2018 The Author(s) The Versatile Arc Discharge and Laser Ion Source (VADLIS) is a recently established ion source for the CERN-ISOLDE radioactive ion beam facility. It offers either electron-impact ionization (VADIS-mode) or resonance laser ionization (RILIS-mode). The choice of operating mode depends on the element of interest or the required beam purity. Particle-in-cell simulations using the VSim software show that the ion extraction efficiency of the VADLIS in RILIS-mode can be improved if it is equipped with an insulated extractor plate, to which an optimal voltage can be applied. This enables optimization of the RILIS-mode ion extraction independently of the electron density. Experiments have been performed using a prototype VADLIS with an adjustable extractor plate voltage for the generation of gallium ion beams at the off-line separator as well as magnesium, molybdenum and mercury ion beams at ISOLDE. A factor >2 increase of the VADLIS efficiency in RILIS-mode has been achieved. ispartof: NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS & METHODS IN PHYSICS RESEARCH SECTION B-BEAM INTERACTIONS WITH MATERIALS AND ATOMS vol:431 pages:59-66 status: published

At the CERN-ISOLDE facility a variety of radioactive ion beams are available to users of the facility. The number of extractable isotopes estimated from yield database data exceeds 1000 and is still increasing. Due to high demand and scarcity of available beam time, precise experiment planning is required. The yield database stores information about radioactive beam yields and the combination of target material and ion source needed to extract a certain beam along with their respective operating conditions. It allows to investigate the feasibility of an experiment and the estimation of required beamtime. With the increasing demand for ever more exotic beams, needs arise to extend the functionality of the database and website not only to provide information about yields determined experimentally, but also to predict yields of isotopes, which can only be measured with sophisticated setups. For the prediction of yields, in-target production and information about release properties of target materials must be known. While the former were estimated in a simulation campaign using FLUKA and ABRABLA codes, the latter is available from measurement data as already stored in the database. We have compiled the information necessary to predict yields, and made available a yield prediction tool as web application. This currently undergoes extensive testing and will be available as powerful tool to the ISOLDE user community.

In the ISOL (Isotope Separator OnLine) method a target at high temperatures (up to 2300 degrees C), is bombarded with high energy protons in order to produce isotopes through nuclear reactions which are simultaneously extracted from the target, ionized and delivered to physics experiments. Due to the enhanced isotope release properties of nanosized porous materials, titanium carbide-carbon porous nanocomposites have been developed at CERN and tested up to 1500 degrees C. In the interest of the ISOL application, in this study we extended the range of temperatures up to 1800 degrees C, to test the sintering hindering capabilities of different carbon allotropes. Carbon black was the most effective with the smallest TiC crystallite size: < 80 nm at 1800 degrees C. Additionally, using thermodynamic modelling, ex-situ X-ray powder diffraction and in-situ gas phase analysis, we show that there are interesting additional phase and lattice parameter changes due to the ZrO2 impurities from the attrition milling.

The Laser Ion Source and Trap (LIST) provides a new mode of operation for the resonance ionization laser ion source (RILIS) at ISOLDE/CERN, reducing the amount of surface-ionized isobaric contaminants by up to four orders of magnitude. After the first successful on-line test at ISOLDE in 2011 the LIST was further improved in terms of efficiency, selectivity, and reliability through several off-line tests at Mainz University and at ISOLDE. In September 2012, the first on-line physics experiments to use the LIST took place at ISOLDE. The measurements of the improved LIST indicate more than a twofold increase in efficiency compared to the LIST of the 2011 run. The suppression of surface-ionized francium contaminants has enabled the first in-source laser spectroscopy of217Po and219Po. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved., This work was supported by the Wolfgang-Gentner-Programme of the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF, Germany), the BRIX network, and the European comission within FP7 (ENSAR No. 262010).