Outline of the progress in the study of radioactive nuclear physics and super-heavy nuclei

We briefly introduce the current status and progress in the field of radioactive ion beam physics and the study of super-heavy nuclei. Some important problems and research directions are outlined, such as the sub-barrier fusion reaction, the direct reaction at Fermi energy and high energies, the property of nuclei at drip-lines, new magic numbers and new collective motion modes for unstable nuclei and the synthesis and study of the super-heavy nuclei.

Configuration of the valence neutrons of B-17

The reaction cross section of B-17 on C-12 target at (43.7 +/- 2.4) MeV/u has been measured at the Radioactive Ion Beam Line in Lanzhou (RIBLL). The root-mean-square matter radius (R-rms) was deduced to be (2.92 +/- 0.10) fm, while the R-rms of the core and the valence neutron distribution are 2.28 fm and 5.98 fm respectively. Assuming a "core plus 2n" structure in B-17, the mixed configuration of (2s(1/2)) and (1d(5/2)) of the valence neutrons is studied and the s-wave spectroscopic factor is found to be (80 +/- 21)%.

Study on charge equilibration time of highly charged ions in carbon foils

Charge state distribution of 0.8MeV/u uranium ions after transmission through a thin carbon foil has been studied. It is observed that the charge state distribution is equilibrated after the uranium ions have passed through a 15 mu g/cm(2) carbon foil. The equilibrated average charge state is 33.72 and the charge equilibration time of uranium ions in carbon foil is less than 5.4fs.

Assessment of DNA damage of Lewis lung carcinoma cells irradiated by carbon ions and X-rays using alkaline comet assay

DNA damage and cell reproductive death determined by alkaline comet and clonogenic survival assays were examined in Lewis lung carcinoma cells after exposure to 89.63 MeV/u carbon ion and 6 MV X-ray irradiations, respectively. Based on the survival data, Lewis lung carcinoma cells were verified to be more radiosensitive to the carbon ion beam than to the X-ray irradiation. The relative biological effectiveness (RBE) value, which was up to 1.77 at 10% survival level, showed that the DNA damage induced by the high-LET carbon ion beam was more remarkable than that induced by the low-LET X-ray irradiation. The dose response curves of '' Tail DNA (%)'' (TD) and "Olive tail moment" (OTM) for the carbon ion irradiation showed saturation beyond about 8 Gy. This behavior was not found in the X-ray curves. Additionally, the carbon ion beam produced a lower survival fraction at 2 Gy (SF2) value and a higher initial Olive tail moment 2 Gy (OTM2) than those for the X-ray irradiation. These results suggest that carbon ion beams having high-LET values produced more severe cell reproductive death and DNA damage in Lewis lung carcinoma cells in comparison with X-rays and comet assay might be an effective predictive test even combining with clonogenic assay to assess cellular radio sensitivity

Property measurement of the CsI(Tl) crystal prepared at IMP

Large-sized CsI (Tl) single crystals, similar to phi 100 mm x 350 mm, have been grown successfully, and this CsI(Tl) coupled with PD has been successfully utilized at RIBLL (the Radioactive Ion Beam Line in Lanzhou) to measure the energy of heavy ions as a stopping detector. The performances of CsI(Tl) detector coupled with PD and APD have been tested and compared, including the temperature dependence of scintillating light yield

Biomedical research with heavy ions at the IMP accelerators

The main ion-beam acceleration facilities and research activities at the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP), Chinese Academy of Sciences are briefly introduced. Some of the biomedical research with heavy ions such as heavy-ion biological effect, basic research related to heavy-ion cancer therapy and radiation breeding at the IMP accelerators are presented.

Measurement of total reaction cross section for neutron-rich nucleus Li-11 on Si-28 target at medium energy

The neutron-rich nucleus Li-11 is separated by the radioactive ion beam line RIBLL at HIRFL from the breakup of 50MeV/u C-13 on Be target. The total reaction cross sections for Li-11 at energies range from 25 to 45MeV/u on Si target have been measured by using the transmission method. The experimental data at high and low energies can be fitted well by Glauber model using two Gauss density distribution. The matter radius of Li-11 was also deduced.

Preliminary results of the updated LECR2 source-LECR2M

The Latest developed LECR2M (Lanzhou ECR No. 2 Modified) source is the updated one of LECR2 (Lanzhou ECR No. 2) source at IMP. It has been assembled on the low energy ion beam experimental platform to produce MCI beams for atomic physics and material physics experimental research. In our updating program, the structure of injection and extraction components has been modified to make the source structure more simple and effective. The hexapole magnet has also been replaced by a new hexapole magnet with higher radial field and larger inner diameter. With this updating, stronger magnetic field confinement of the ECR plasma is possible and better base vacuum condition is also achieved. LECR2M was designed to be operated at 14.5GHz. During the preliminary test, 1.3emA O6+ beam was extracted with the injected rf power of 1.1kW. The source has been used to deliver intense MCI beams for different experiments. After some discussion of the main features of this newly updated source, some of the typical commissioning test results of LECR2M will be presented.

Construction and test of Wien-filter combined with RIBLL

A recoil separator Wien-filter which was developed for the Radioactive Ion Beam Line in Lanzhou (RIBLL) as an extension is described. It consists of 2 quadruple triplets and a standard Wien-filter. It was designed for study of the fusion-evaporation reactions. The overall design, background suppression, the transmission efficiency, the angular acceptance and the momentum acceptance have been described. All the performances fulfil the designed requirements. Based on the test results, with some modifications the investigations of the nuclei with Z <= 110 and the drip-line nuclei in the medium-heavy mass region can be carried out with this facility.

A transverse field gas ionization chamber performed at RIBLL

A transverse field gas ionization chamber as Delta E detector at the Radioactive Ion Beam Line in Lanzhou (RIBLL) is described. A high detection efficiency and long plateau are achieved with the mixed gas Ar(80%)+CO2(20%). The energy resolution is 3.25% for 4.94MeV alpha particle. This ionization chamber has been tested in the experiment with 50MeV/u Ni-58 bombarding Ta at RIBLL. All the fragments can be identified clearly by the ionization chamber.

General design of the CSR project in IMP

CSR, a new accelerator project under the construction. to upgrade the existing heavy ion cyclotron system in Lanzhou, is a double cooling-storage-ring system. It consists of a main ring and an experimental ring. The heavy ion beams from the cyclotron system will be accumulated and accelerated first in the main ring, then extracted to produce radioactive ion beams or high-Z beams, and finally to be send to the second ring for internal-target experiments.

Monte Carlo simulation of the neutron detection wall at RIBLL II in HIRFL-CSR

With the construction of the new Radioactive Ion Beam Line in Lanzhou (RIBLL II) which connects the CSRm and the CSRe, an experimental setup for physics research is highly required. A large area neutron detection wall is the main part of the setup. This paper introduced the detection principle of the neutron detection wall and the Monte-Carlo simulation of its design under the environment of the Geant4 toolkit. We presented the final design with the optimized parameters and the performance of the wall.

An online monitor ionization chamber used in particle therapy

The clinical trials of tumor therapy using heavy ions beam C-12 are now in progress at Institute of Modem Physics in Lanzhou. In order to achieve the precise radiotherapy with the high energy C-12 beam in active pencil beam scanning mode, we have developed an ionization chamber(IC) as an online monitor for beam intensity and also a dosimeter after calibration. Through the choosing of working gas and voltage, optimizing of the electrics and the read-out system, calibrating the linearity, the detector system provide us one of the simple and highly reliable way to monitoring the beam during the active pencil beam scanning treatments. The measurement results of this detector system show that it could work well under the condition of high energy C-12 beam in active pencil beam scanning mode.

Investigation of two-proton emission from excited states of the odd-Z nucleus P-28 by complete-kinematics measurements

An experiment to study exotic two-proton emission from excited levels of the odd-Z nucleus P-28 was performed at the National Laboratory of Heavy Ion Research-Radioactive Ion Beam Line (HIRFL-RIBLL) facility. The projectile P-28 at the energy of 46.5 MeV/u was bombarding a Au-197 target to populate the excited states via Coulomb excitation. Complete-kinematics measurements were realized by the array of silicon strip detectors and the CsI + PIN telescope. Two-proton events were selected and the relativistic-kinematics reconstruction was carried out. The spectrum of relative momentum and opening angle between two protons was deduced from Monte Carlo simulations. Experimental results show that two-proton emission from P-28 excited states less than 17.0 MeV is mainly two-body sequential emission or three-body simultaneous decay in phase space. The present simulations cannot distinguish these two decay modes. No obvious diproton emission was found.

Commissioning of electron cooling in CSRe

The 400 MeV/u C-12(6+) ion beam was successfully cooled by the intensive electron beam near 1 A in CSRe. The momentum cooling time was estimated near 15 s. The cooling force was measured in the cases of different electron beam profiles, and the different angles between the ion beam and electron beam. The lifetime of the ion beam in CSRe was over 80 h. The dispersion in the cooling section was confirmed as positive close to zero. The beam sizes before cooling and after cooling were measured by the moving screen. The beam diameter after cooling was about 1 mm. The bunch length was measured with the help of the signals from the beam position monitor. The diffusion was studied in the absence of the electron beam.