The rare isotope accelerator project

Abstract

Only 300 out of thousands of isotopes are stable and exist in nature. The others are unstable and decay within a wide range of lifetimes. The properties of most of these rare isotopes are unknown and can only be inferred, with considerable uncertainty, from theoretical calculations. The proposed Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA) will make it possible to produce and study more than a thousand new rare isotopes in the laboratory. RIA will be driven by a highly flexible superconducting linear accelerator which will be capable of delivering intense beams of all elements from hydrogen to uranium. The RIA facility will be the most powerful rare isotope research facility in the world.