NuPECC Brussels 2009 The Cyclotron Research Centre of Louvain-la-Neuve: Present status Marc Loiselet UCL, Centre de Recherches du Cyclotron Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium)

NuPECC Brussels 2009

n Since 2007, a new agreement between UCL and the national funding agency (IISN) has been signed. n New UCL research lines around the cyclotrons u High energy physics, in collaboration with the microelectronic department, -study of the radiation hardness of semiconductor detectors used in LHC -development of radiation hard components u High energy physics / nuclear physics Use of radioactive beams for the neutrino beams (European collaboration : Beta-beams)

NuPECC Brussels 2009 u Applied research o Radiobiology o Material department: development of new material based on track etched membranes second generation membrane

NuPECC Brussels 2009 What about the future of the LLN RIB facility? n The nuclear physics program has been stopped: o UCL: no new academic position in nuclear physics. o EU: end of the EURONS program November 2008: last radioactive beam ? ~720 h of RIBs in 2008 n Interest of several EU-groups of RIB users.... n The facility could be restarted IF supported by external fundings (EU?)...

NuPECC Brussels 2009 Cyclotron lab = technology platform of UCL Research n High energy physics -radiation hardness -beta-beams n Radiobiology n Micro-Nanotechnology u MEMS u Second generation membranes Services n ESA- facilities Radiation hardness tests u Heavy Ions (HIF) u Light Ions (LIF) u Neutrons (nIF) n Membranes

NuPECC Brussels 2009 High Energy Physics Research n study of the radiation hardness of semiconductor detectors used in LHC innermost layers of CMS detector: silicon microstips detector after 10 years of LHC operation: neutr/cm² (1Mev/equiv.) caracterisation of the detector behaviour LHC upgrade: * 10 ! development of radiation hard components in collaboration with the microelectronic department of UCL

NuPECC Brussels 2009 LLN irradiation facilities u HIF: heavy ions u LIF*: light ions u Neutrons facilities o Mono-energetic neutrons o High flux

NuPECC Brussels 2009 Neutron Lines (NIF) Two lines are available: Mono Energetic Line High Flux Line 50 MeV d (10 μA ) on a Be converter 7.3 * neutrons/cm².s at 9 cm from target

NuPECC Brussels 2009 High energy- nuclear physics: neutrino beams n radioactive ion beams for the production of neutrino beams n Ex: He-6 -> Li-6 + e - + anti-neutrino Ne-18 -> F-18 + e + + neutrino at rest, isotropic emission of neutrinos at v c, neutrinos emitted in a narrow cone in the forward direction -> neutrinos beam

NuPECC Brussels 2009 n Distinctive feature of the beta-beams: the neutrino beam only contains a single type of neutrino flavour: electron-neutrinos (or anti-neutrinos) no muon-neutrinos n Important for neutrino oscillation experiments

NuPECC Brussels beam baseline scenario PS SPS ISOL target & Ion source SPL Cyclotrons Storage ring and fast cycling synchrotron Decay Ring Decay ring Brho= 1500 Tm B = 5 T L ss = 2500 m eF eLiHe 6 He-> 6 Li +e Ne-> 18 F +e + + ν

NuPECC Brussels 2009 Which radioactive nuclei ? n FP6: EURISOL_Design Study collaboration, the selected nuclei are: Ne-18 ( β +,T 1/2 = 1.7s ) He-6 ( β -,T 1/2 = 0.8s ) Among the (many) challenges: bottle neck at the low energy part of the acceleration chain how to produce these elements? how to ionize them ? GOAL: a few µAp of RIB (at least!)

NuPECC Brussels 2009 Which radioactive nuclei ? n FP7: EURO-NU collaboration, new idea (C. Rubbia) : a dedicated low energy ring for the production of B-8 ( β +,T 1/2 = 0.8s ) Li-8 ( β -,T 1/2 = 0.8s ) reaction: Li-6 + He-3 -> B-8 + n Li-7 + D -> Li-8 + p B-8 or Li-8 are emitted in a ~10° cone Li energy : 20….30 MeV

NuPECC Brussels 2009 Low energy ring for the production of Li-8, B-8 n Ex: Li-7 + D-> Li-8 + p beam: ~25 MeV Li-7 D 2 gas jet target (wedge) collection device for the Li-8 ok, for B-8 …?! n Table top ring

NuPECC Brussels 2009 n UCL participation in EURO-NU: study of the collection device u How to extract Li-8 and B-8 from the device? Li-8 : ok B-8? chemically reactive element u Experimental study with the cyclotron beams

NuPECC Brussels : 20 th anniversary of radioactive beams (post-accelerated) n 1989, June 21: first (post-accelerated) beam 13 N (T1/2)= 10 min ~10 6 pps