Isotope harvesting at FRIB: additional opportunities for scientific discovery

Abstract

The upcoming Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University provides a new opportunity to access some of the world’s most specialized scientific resources: radioisotopes. An excess of useful radioisotopes will be formed as FRIB fulfills its basic science mission of providing rare isotope beams. In order for the FRIB beams to reach high-purity, many of the isotopes are discarded and go unused. If harvested, the unused isotopes could enable new research for diverse applications ranging from medical therapy and diagnosis to nuclear security. Given that FRIB will have the capability to create about 80% of all possible atomic nuclei, harvesting at FRIB will provide a fast path for access to a vast array of isotopes of interest in basic and applied science investigations. To fully realize this opportunity, infrastructure investment is required to enable harvesting and purification of otherwise unused isotopes. An investment in isotope harvesting at FRIB will provide a powerful resource for development of crucial isotope applications. In 2010, the United States Department of Energy Office of Science, Nuclear Physics, sponsored the first ‘Workshop on Isotope Harvesting at FRIB’, convening researchers from diverse fields to discuss the scientific impact and technical feasibility of isotope harvesting. Following the initial meeting, a series of biennial workshops was organized. At the fourth workshop, at Michigan State University in 2016, the community elected to prepare a formal document to present their findings. This report is the output of the working group, drawing on contributions and discussions with a broad range of scientific experts.

TDHF Theory and Its Extensions for the Multinucleon Transfer Reaction: A Mini Review

“…The production of neutron-rich superheavy nuclei in the island is highly desired, as it would provide a new stringent constraint for microscopic theories. Therefore, the study of MNT reactions is listed as one of the key subjects at the current and future RI beam facilities, such as RIBF (RIKEN, Japan) [10], HIRFL-CSR and HIAF (IMP, China) [11], RAON (RISP, Korea) [12], DRIB (FLNR, Russia), SPIRAL2 (GANIL, France) [13], FAIR (GSI, Germany) [14], SPES (INFN, Italy) [15], FRIB (MSU, USA) [16], and so on.…”

Role of triple excitations in calculating different properties of Ba+

“…Precise values of energies, transition properties, and hyperfine structure (HFS) constants provide fundamental knowledge for atomic and molecular systems and are needed for many applications, including studies of fundamental symmetries and searches for physics beyond the standard model [1], development of atomic clocks [2,3], study of degenerate quantum gases and quantum information [4][5][6], plasma physics [7], and nuclear physics [8]. Theoretical calculations of the hyperfine constants and their evaluated uncertainties are needed to extract nuclear magnetic moments for nuclear physics studies, especially as rare isotopes will become available with a high yield at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) [9].…”

$^{23}$Ne Production at SARAF-I

“…Most of the reactors that currently produce radioisotopes are expected to come offline in the next few years [1]. This makes radioisotope production at accelerator facilities, which are relatively cost-effective and easy to operate, a growing field with applications in nuclear medicine [2,3], industry [4] and basic science [5]. In basic science, one such application is the search for Beyond Standard Model (BSM) physics in the weak interaction, through precision measurements of decay parameters such as the beta-neutrino angular correlation coefficient [6].…”

“…As both helium and neon are noble gases, they may be effused through a vacuum hose. We chose to design a simple vacuum transport system rather than using other methods that employ complex separation methods [5].…”