As a part of future developments of beam diagnostics, a low energy experimental bench (LEEx-B) has been recently designed, built and commissioned at IPHC-CNRS of Strasbourg. The bench is composed of a Cs+ ion gun installed on a HV platform and providing beams up to 25 keV. A beam profiler and an Allison-type emittance-meter allow the qualification of the setup and also the characterization of the beam. During the commissioning process, the electronics, and the control system were upgraded in order to push the limits towards low beam currents measured by the emittance-meter.

2D and 4D transverse phase-space of a low-energy ion-beam is measured with two of the most common emittance scanners. The article covers the description of the installation, the setup, the settings, the experiment and the benchmark of the two emittance meters. We compare the results from three series of measurements and present the advantages and drawbacks of the two systems. Coupling between phase-space planes, correlations and mitigation of deleterious effects are discussed. The influence of background noise and aberrations of trace-space figures on emittance measurements and RMS calculations is highlighted, especially for low density beams and halos. A new data analysis method using noise reduction, filtering, and reconstruction of the emittance figure is described. Finally, some basic concepts of phase-space theory and application to beam transport are recalled.

Purpose. Although charged particle therapy (CPT) for cancer treatment has grown these past years, the use of protons and carbon ions for therapy remains debated compared to x-ray therapy. While a biological advantage of protons is not clearly demonstrated, therapy using carbon ions is often pointed out for its high cost. Furthermore, the nuclear interactions undergone by carbons inside the patient are responsible for an additional dose delivered after the Bragg peak, which deteriorates the ballistic advantage of CPT. Therefore, a renewed interest for lighter ions with higher biological efficiency than protons was recently observed. In this context, helium and lithium ions represent a good compromise between protons and carbons, as they exhibit a higher linear energy transfer (LET) than protons in the Bragg peak and can be accelerated by cyclotrons. The possibility of accelerating radioactive 8 Li, decaying in 2 α -particles, and 8 He, decaying in 8 Li by β − decay, is particularly interesting. Methods . This work aims to assess the interest of the use of 8 Li and 8 He ions for therapy by Monte Carlo simulations carried out with Geant 4. Results . It was calculated that the 8 Li and 8 He decay results in an increase of the LET of almost a factor 2 in the Bragg peak compared to stable 7 Li and 4 He. This results also in a higher dose deposited in the Bragg peak without an increase of the dose in the plateau region. It was also shown that both 8 He and 8 Li can have a potential interest for prompt-gamma monitoring techniques. Finally, the feasibility of accelerating facilities delivering 8 Li and 8 He was also discussed. Conclusion . In this study, we demonstrate that both 8 Li and 8 He have interesting properties for therapy. Indeed, simulations predict that 8 Li and 8 He are a good compromise between proton and 12 C, both in terms of LET and dose.

Although charged particle therapy (CPT) for cancer treatment has grown these past years, the use of protons and carbon ions for therapy remains debated compared to x-ray therapy. While a biological advantage of protons is not clearly demonstrated, therapy using carbon ions is often pointed out for its high cost. Furthermore, the nuclear interactions undergone by carbons inside the patient are responsible for an additional dose delivered after the Bragg peak, which deteriorates the ballistic advantage of CPT. Therefore, a renewed interest for lighter ions with higher biological efficiency than protons was recently observed. In this context, helium and lithium ions represent a good compromise between protons and carbons, as they exhibit a higher linear energy transfer (LET) than protons in the Bragg peak and can be accelerated by cyclotrons. The possibility of accelerating radioactiveLi, decaying in 2-particles, andHe, decaying inLi bydecay, is particularly interesting.. This work aims to assess the interest of the use ofLi andHe ions for therapy by Monte Carlo simulations carried out withGeant4.. It was calculated that theLi andHe decay results in an increase of the LET of almost a factor 2 in the Bragg peak compared to stableLi andHe. This results also in a higher dose deposited in the Bragg peak without an increase of the dose in the plateau region. It was also shown that bothHe andLi can have a potential interest for prompt-gamma monitoring techniques. Finally, the feasibility of accelerating facilities deliveringLi andHe was also discussed.. In this study, we demonstrate that bothLi andHe have interesting properties for therapy. Indeed, simulations predict thatLi andHe are a good compromise between proton andC, both in terms of LET and dose.

A prototype of ion beam transport module has been developed at the Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC) and used as a test bed to investigate key issues related to the efficient transport of ion beams. This includes the reduction of the beam losses, the increase of the acceptance, and the definition of the instrumentation necessary to evaluate the performances. An experiment was performed on a full-scale beam line and following a standard beam analysis, steering, and focusing procedure. After a review of the developments carried out for some demanding facilities and for the design of the quadrupoles implemented in the transport module, the paper highlights the challenge of measuring the preservation of transverse phase-space distributions with large acceptance conditions, i.e. with the highest ratio of beam filling to quadrupole aperture. Then, the tolerance to the errors and mitigation of the risks are discussed, in particular by considering the electric stability of the transport module, beam trips, behavior of the tail and the halo, and misalignment errors.

Due to increasing environmental and economic constraints, optimization of ion beam transport and equipment design becomes essential. The future should be equipped with planet-friendly facilities, that is, solutions that reduce environmental impact and improve economic competitiveness. The tendency to increase the intensity of the current and the power of the beams obliges us and brings us to new challenges. Installations tend to have larger dimensions with increased areas, volumes, weights and costs. A new ion beam transport prototype was developed and used as a test bed to identify key issues to reduce beam losses and preserve transverse phase-space distributions with large acceptance conditions.

The first two extension beamlines from the CYRCé cyclotron have been developed and recently commissioned at IPHC Strasbourg. One beamline is devoted to radiobiological experiments, the PRECy project, while the other one is for testing silicon detector modules in the framework of the CMS experiment. The development of the control system of these beamlines is reported in this paper.

CYRCé is a TR24 cyclotron installed at the Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC) of Strasbourg operating at energies of 16–25 MeV and at intensities up to 400 μA. The accelerator is used to produce and provide radio-elements for PET and for SPECT. In 2015, IPHC started to develop a platform with the aim of performing radiobiological experiments. The PRECy platform foresees to contain three-to-five experimental stations linked to beamlines expanded from the second exit port of the cyclotron. This extension allows devoting one of the beamlines for detector studies within the framework of the CMS project. The design, the development and the commissioning of the first two beamlines are discussed in this paper.

Since 2001, the SPIRAL 1 facility has been one of the pioneering facilities in ISOL techniques for reaccelerating radioactive ion beams: the fragmentation of the heavy ion beams of GANIL on graphite targets and subsequent ionization in the Nanogan ECR ion source has permitted to deliver beams of gaseous elements (He, N, O, F, Ne, Ar, Kr) to numerous experiments. Thanks to the CIME cyclotron, energies up to 20 AMeV could be obtained. In 2014, the facility was stopped to undertake a major upgrade, with the aim to extend the production capabilities of SPIRAL 1 to a number of new elements. This upgrade, which is presently under commissioning, consists in the integration of an ECR booster in the SPIRAL 1 beam line to charge breed the beam of different 1+ sources. A FEBIAD source (the so-called VADIS from ISOLDE) was chosen to be the future workhorse for producing many metallic ion beams. The charge breeder is an upgraded version of the Phoenix booster which was previously tested in ISOLDE. The performances of the aforementioned ingredients of the upgrade (targets, 1+ source and charge breeder) have been and are still being optimized in the frame of different European projects (EMILIE, ENSAR and ENSAR2). The upgraded SPIRAL 1 facility will provide soon its first new beams for physics and further beam development are undertaken to prepare for the next AGATA campaign. The results obtained during the on-line commissioning period permit to evaluate intensities for new beams from the upgraded facility.

In the framework of the SPIRAL1 (SP1) facility, the R & D of charge breeding technique is of primary interest for optimizing the yields of radioactive ion beams (RIBS). This technique involves the transformation of mono-charged ion beams into multi-charged ion beams by operating an SPIRAL1 Electron Cyclotron Resonance charge breeder (CB). During the SPIRAL1 commissioning, experimental studies have been performed in order to understand the transport of the beam through the SP1 CB with and without ECR plasma. Numerical simulations including ion optics and some ECR plasma features have been developed to evaluate ion losses during the ion transport through the SP1 CB with and without a simplified model of the ECR plasma.

The PRECy project foresees the use of a 16-25 MeV energy proton beam produced by the TR24 cyclotron, named CYRCe, recently installed at the Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC) in Strasbourg for research in radiation biology. One of the exit ports of the cyclotron will be used for this application along with a combination magnet. The platform will consist of up to 5 experimental stations linked to beamlines located in a dedicated area next to the cyclotron vault. One of the beamlines will receive proton beams of a few cm diameter at intensities up to 100 nA. In order to characterize the beam extracted from the cyclotron, the transverse beam emittance was studied by means of different methods.

The recent test of a prototype of beam debuncher device for Electron Beam Ion Source (EBIS), designed within the EMILIE (Enhanced Multi-Ionization of short-Lived Ions for EURISOL) project, is presented in this paper. For a singly ionized Li+1 ion, high efficiency trapping times up to 1 s were established and a uniform ion extraction with intensity variation of less than 30% was achieved. The test gives promising results regarding the future introduction of debuncher devices to EBIS facilities.

The accuracy of the predictions of the γ flux produced by a classical nova during the first hours after the outburst is limited by the uncertainties on several reaction rates, including the 18F(p,α)15O one. Better constraints on this reaction rate can be obtained by determining the spectroscopic properties of the compound nucleus 19Ne. This was achieved in a new inelastic scattering method using a 19Ne radioactive beam (produced by the GANIL-SPIRAL 1 facility) impinging onto a proton target. The experiment was performed at the VAMOS spectrometer. In this article the performances (excitation energy range covered and excitation energy resolution) and limitations of the new technique are discussed. Excitation energy resolution of σ = 33 keV and low background were obtained with this inverse kinematics method, which will allow extracting the spectroscopic properties of 19Ne.

SPIRAL1 Upgrade hardware is now almost completed. The FEBIAD 1+ source has been tested for the production of new radioactive isotopes, the SPIRAL1 Charge Breeder (SP1 CB) is in place reproducing nearly the charge breeding efficiencies measured at LPSC laboratory and the infrastructure is operational. The commissioning phase started in the first semester of 2017. It has consisted of a stepwise process to test the upgrade of the SPIRAL1 facility from simple validation (operation of SP1 CB as a stand-alone source) up to the production of the first 1+/N+ Radioactive Ion Beam (RIB) with the 37K9+ ion. This contribution will summarize the different steps completed successfully and especially the measurements performed to validate each of the commissioning stages. These include e.g. ionization efficiency measurements for CB; beam line optics for 1+/N+ and charge breeding tuning. The remaining effort required to ensure the reliability of the complete system for routine RIB operation is also presented. A section will be dedicated to the coupling of SP1 CB to the CIME cyclotron, leading to the delivery of stable beams at unprecedented energies at GANIL.

The in-gas laser ionization and spectroscopy (IGLIS) technique was applied on the Ac212-215 isotopes, produced at the Leuven Isotope Separator On-Line (LISOL) facility by using the in-gas-cell and the in-gas-jet methods. The first application under on-line conditions of the in-gas-jet laser spectroscopy method showed a superior performance in terms of selectivity, spectral resolution, and efficiency in comparison with the in-gas-cell method. Following the analysis of both experiments, the magnetic-dipole moments for the (212-215)Acisotopes, electric-quadrupole moments and nuclear spins for the Ac-214,Ac-215 isotopes are presented and discussed. A good agreement is obtained with large-scale nuclear shell-model calculations by using a Pb-208 core.

Resonant laser ionization and spectroscopy are widely used techniques at radioactive ion beam facilities to produce pure beams of exotic nuclei and measure the shape, size, spin and electromagnetic multipole moments of these nuclei. However, in such measurements it is difficult to combine a high efficiency with a high spectral resolution. Here we demonstrate the on-line application of atomic laser ionization spectroscopy in a supersonic gas jet, a technique suited for high-precision studies of the ground- and isomeric-state properties of nuclei located at the extremes of stability. The technique is characterized in a measurement on actinium isotopes around the N =126 neutron shell closure. A significant improvement in the spectral resolution by more than one order of magnitude is achieved in these experiments without loss in efficiency.

Synopsis Resonant laser ionization and spectroscopy are now standard techniques used at radioactive ion beam facilities. They provide pure low energy beams of exotic nuclei and give access to atomic and nuclear ground state properties. We present here the development of REGLIS (Rare Elements in-Gas Laser Ion Source and Spectroscopy at S), a new generation device based on the use of a supersonic gas jet. The technique provides both higher spectral resolution and efficiency, as recently demonstrated by our collaboration [1]. Coupled to the future S (Super Separator Spectrometer) of GANIL SPIRAL2, it will offer unique opportunities for atomic and nuclear studies of heavy and super heavy elements.