SPIRAL2 at GANIL: A world leading ISOL facility at the dawn of the next decade
Abstract
During the last two decades, secondary Radioactive Ion Beams (RIB) has allowed the investigation of a new territory of nuclei with extreme N/Z called "terra incognita". This first exploration of this unknown territory have led to discovery of new phenomena such as, exotic new shapes and excitation modes, halo-like and molecular structures, new modes of nuclear decay. Tests of the Standard Model and/or of fundamental interactions, and exploration of the 'magic' numbers of protons and nuclei in very exotic nuclei, have ben identified as the new avenues for the futur. Moreover the study of radioactive nuclei, involved as they are in nucleosynthesis in the stars, leading to the creation of nuclei, atoms, molecules and all other complex structures our world is made of, has until now been strongly restricted by their short lifetimes and the limited production yields. By using new technologies, we are now able to produce accelerators and ingenious systems for producing beams of very exotic ions in quantities, which will permit their properties to be measured and understood. The quest for Rare Isotope Beams (RIB), which are orders of magnitude more intense than those currently available, is the main motivation behind the design and construction of the next generation of RIB facilities. An overview of the ongoing major upgrades and/or new facilities under planned or under construction worldwide will be presented. As selected by the ESFRI committee, the next generation of ISOL facility in Europe is represented by the SPIRAL2 Project to be built at GANIL (Caen, France) The main goal of SPIRAL2 is clearly to extend our knowledge of the limit of existence and the structure of nuclei deeply in the medium and heavy mass region (A=60 to 140) which is to day an almost unexplored continent.