RIKEN RI Beam Factory Project

The world-top-class radioactive-isotope-beam (RIB) facility, which is called “RI beam factory (RIBF)”, is under construction at RIKEN. This facility is based on the so-called “in-flight RI beam separation” scheme. Commissioning of a new high-power heavy-ion booster system consisting of a cascade of three ring cyclotrons with K=570 MeV (fixed frequency, fRC), 980 MeV (Intermediate stage, IRC) and 2500 MeV (superconducting, SRC), respectively, is scheduled for late in 2006. This new ring-cyclotron cascade system boosts energies of the output beams from the existing K540-MeV ring cyclotron up to 440 MeV/nucleon for light ions and 350 MeV/nucleon for very heavy ions. These energetic heavy-ion beams are converted into intense RI beams via the projectile fragmentation of stable ions or in-flight fission of uranium ions by a superconducting isotope separator, BigRIPS. The combination of the SRC and the BigRIPS will expand our nuclear world into presently unreachable region. Major experimental installations are under priority discussion as the second-phase program of the RIBF project. Construction of the second phase is expected to start in 2006.