Isotope Science Facility (ISF)

A new rare isotope science facility would greatly strengthen U.S. research capabilities with an upgrade of the research capabilities at the NSCL by the replacement of the current CCF (Coupled Cyclotron Facility) with a more powerful facility that can be built with minimum disruption of the ongoing research and education program. NSCL has prepared a detailed whitepaper describing plans for such a facility at Michigan State University. The working name of the proposed project is the Isotope Science Facility, or ISF.

The heart of the ISF is a high-power superconducting heavy-ion linear accelerator capable of delivering primary beams that range from protons to uranium with variable energies of at least 200 MeV/nucleon and beam power reaching up to 400 kW. The primary beams will be used to produce secondary rare isotope beams that can be studied at rest, as reaccelerated beams, and as fast beams at intensities over 1000-times higher than currently available in the United States. Experiments which would now take a year to complete could be done in a few hours in the future. The new beam intensities will be competitive with, and often exceed, those at facilities that will be completed elsewhere in the world during the next 10 to 15 years.

The ISF will replace NSCL's Coupled Cyclotron Facility (CCF) and greatly enhance its capabilities as a national user facility for rare isotope research and center for educating the next generation of nuclear scientists. (The MSU nuclear physics graduate program is ranked #2 in the nation, behind MIT.) ISF construction will take full advantage of NSCL expertise in rare isotope research. Major cost savings will be achieved by reuse of NSCL equipment.

The Rare Isotope Science Assessment Committee of the National Research Council concludes "that the science addressed by a rare-isotope facility, most likely based on a heavy-ion driver, should be a high priority for the United States".

Download the whitepaper (PDF 35.4 MByte).