A monitoring system for measuring absolute intensity and the space-time structure of extracted beams of Nuclotron based on ionization and activation methods has been created and tested. The monitoring system provides a measurement of the absolute intensity of extracted beams with a precision of 10% and beam position with a precision of 0.5 mm.

The cross-sections of relativistic deuteron reactions on natural copper were studied by the means of activation method. The deuteron beams produced by JINR Nuclotron (Russia) with energies from 1 GeV up to 8 GeV were used. Lack of such cross-sections prevents the usage of copper foils for beam integral monitoring. The copper monitors will help us to improve the beam integral determination during ADS studies. The yttrium samples are very suitable activation detectors for monitoring of neutron fields not only in the ADS studies. But experimental cross-section data for higher energy threshold neutron reactions are still missing. This situation is the reason why we have started to study neutron reactions on yttrium by the means of quasi mono-energetic neutron source based on NPI Rez cyclotron (Czech Republic).

The formation cross sections for about 110 products of interaction between a 12 C ion beam of energy 2.2 GeV per nucleon and tin targets from the isotopes 112,118,120,124 Sn were calculated. Massyield and charge distributions were obtained for 112,118,124 Sn targets. An analysis of these charge distributions reveals that the positions of their maxima, Z p , are different for targets having different nucleon compositions. The formation cross sections for neutron-rich products originating from neutron-rich targets are found to increase in all product-mass regions considered in our study. Mass distributions are compared for proton-, deuteron- and ion-nucleus reactions.

The MultiPurpose Detector (MPD) is designed to study heavy-ion collisions at the Nuclotron-based heavy Ion Collider fAcility (NICA) at JINR, Dubna. Its main components located inside a superconducting solenoid are a tracking system composed of a silicon microstrip vertex detector followed by a large volume time-projection chamber, a time-of-flight system for particle identification and a barrel electromagnetic calorimeter. A zero degree hadron calorimeter is designed specifically to measure the energy of spectators. In this paper, all parts of the apparatus are described and their tracking and particle identification (PID) parameters are discussed in some detail.

Recent data from the design of new optimized options of NbTi composite wires and hollow cables for fast cycling synchrotron SIS100 at GSI and NICA collider at JINR are presented. The SIS100 new cable is proposed to be used for manufacturing of single-layer coil for dipole magnet with maximal amplitude of pulsed magnetic field up to 2 T. The cable should provide continues pulsed operation at the current amplitude of I = 13 kA and magnetic field ramp rate of dB/dt = 4 T/s. The results of experimental study of energy losses in the new wire and cable samples for SIS100 magnets are presented. The design cable parameters for the NICA 4 T dipole magnet are fixed at the level of I = 17 kA and dB/dt = 1 T/s. The status of the work is presented and discussed.

Pinning and magnetic flux diffusion in composites with artificial pinning centers (APC) are studied using a magnetic step method. It is revealed experimentally, that a magnetic flux pinning is determined by boundaries of superconducting filaments and matrix in composites with thickness of filaments less of London's penetration depth. The elementary pinning force on n-s boundary for Cu-NbTi, Nb-NbTi,.. composites is measured. The value of elementary pinning force is controlled by thickness n-s boundary. And the thickness n-s of boundary can be large in result of solid state diffusion during technological process. The thickness n-s boundary is estimated through the dependence of superconducting filaments effective volume from the magnetic field value. These results for elementary pinning force and thickness n-s of boundary are compared to results of direct measurements of critical currents in these APC superconducting composites.

A beam of 1 GeV proton coming from Dubna Nuclotron colliding with a lead target surrounded by 6 cm paraffin produces spallation neutrons. A Th-foil was kept on lead target (neutron spallation source) in a direct stream of neutrons for activation and other samples of 197Au, 209Bi, 59Co, 115In and 181Ta were irradiated by moderated beam of neutrons passing through 6 cm paraffin moderator. The gamma spectra of irradiated samples were analyzed using gamma spectrometry and DEIMOS software to measure the neutron cross-section. For this purpose neutron fluence at the positions of samples is also estimated using PREPRO software. The results of cross-sections for reactions 232Th(n, γ), 232Th(n, 2n), 197Au(n, γ), 197Au(n, α), 197Au(n, xn), 59Co(n, α), 59Co(n, xn), 181Ta(n, γ) and 181Ta(n, xn) are given in this paper. Neutronics validation of the Dubna Cascade Code is also done using cross-section data by other experiments.

The experimental results of curling effect investigation (sharp increasing of the normal phase propagation speed under influence of the magnetic flux avalanche) in superconducting Nb-Ti and Nb-Zr wires are presented. The external magnetic field was imposed parallel to an axis of a sample of a superconducting wire by thickness from 0.16 mm up to 0.30 mm without a normal stabilizing covering, the transport current was put, and after initiation of a normal phase on a short part of a sample the normal phase propagation and the magnetic flux avalanche along a sample were registered simultaneously. It was found, that the thickness of the magnetic flux avalanche L-mfa and the thickness of the normal phase front L-npf (length of the part of a sample engaged by S-N transition) achieves 3-4 mm, that is more than 10 diameters of the sample. The heating of a superconducting wire by the magnetic flux avalanche is accompanied by increase of the speed of normal phase propagation V-npp. In a narrow range of change of a transport current the sharp increasing of the speed of normal phase propagation V-npp up to the speed of a magnetic flux avalanche V-mfa occurs. The further increasing of a transport current is accompanied by reduction of a distance (spacing) between the normal phase and the magnetic flux avalanche. In turn V-mfa increase with increasing of critical current dencity J(c) and thickness of a superconducting wire. In particular the speeds V-mfa and V-npp achieve the value 9-13 km/s for the wire Nb-25%Zr by thickness of 0.24 mm with the critical current J(c) = 2-4 MA/cm(2) in magnetic fields 0.5-1 T.

A spallation neutron source consisting of an extended lead target surrounded with a paraffin moderator irradiated by 1, 1.5, and 2.0GeV protons is used to study neutron capture and transmutation reaction rates in 139La, 129I and 237Np samples in secondary neutron fluences. Reaction rates are obtained by activation analysis using HPGe detectors. The results are compared with calculations using a cascade-evaporation model.

Transmutation experiments have been carried out using the NUCLOTRON, a new accelerator for relativistic particles. The experiments were carried out in the Veksler and Baldin Laboratory of High Energies of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russian Federation. Earlier experiments using an 8 cm circle divide Pb-target of 20 cm length and surrounded by 6 cm paraffin (GAMMA-2 target) have been continued to study the transmutation of La-139 and the highly radiotoxic radwaste nuclides I-129 and Np-237 using spallation neutrons produced by relativistic protons with energies 0.5 GeV <= E-p <= 4.15 GeV. Results of previous experiments were complemented with additional results, thus yielding data systematics with small uncertainties over the probably commercially relevant energy range of 0.5 GeV <= E-p <= 1.0 GeV and also in the scientifically interesting range above I GeV. Moreover, neutron density distributions in irradiations with 0.65 GeV, 1 GeV and 3.7 GeV protons were determined on the surface of the paraffin moderator for two energy regimes of slow and intermediate/fast neutrons. A large set of high quality experimental data with small uncertainties has been generated that can serve as benchmark data for modelling purposes.

Target-blanket facility "Energy & Transmutation" was irradiated by a 2 GeV proton beam extracted from the Nuclotron Accelerator at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia. Radioactive samples made from iodine, neptunium, plutonium and americium were irradiated by spallation neutrons produced in the "E&T" facility. Transmutation reaction yields (residual nuclei production yields) have been determined using methods of gamma-spectroscopy. The energy spectrum of the neutron field has been studied by using a set of threshold detectors.

A Th-232 activation sample was exposed directly to the spallation neutrons produced by 1 GeV proton colliding with a lead target and other samples of Au-197, Bi-209, Co-59, In-115 and Ta-181 were irradiated by moderated neutrons after passing through 6 cm of paraffin. Different (n, gamma) and (n, xn) reaction products in Th-232, Au-197 and Bi-209 samples are analyzed by gamma-ray spectrometry to measure the neutron fluence at the positions of the samples. For this purpose a histogram of 'flat' spectrum averaged neutron cross-sections in over thirty given energy groups was determined from the PREPRO-2000 software. Results of measurements are compared with Monte-Carlo simulations by the Dubna CASCADE code. Experimental values for both spallation and moderated neutron fluences are in reasonable agreement with the CASCADE code. Thus, the experimentally measured fluence of moderated neutrons was used to infer the 'one group' reaction cross-sections of Bi-209 (n, xn) reactions for x = 6 to 9.

The performances of the installation used to measure a.c. energy losses of short superconducting samples in an external pulsed magnetic field are given. The calorimetric method at 4.2 K is used. The measurable range of losses is from 10 up to 1000 mW. The results of loss measurements of superconducting wires and tubular cables with a various diameter of superconducting filaments and twist length are presented. The experimental values of hysteresis and eddy current losses are compared with the calculated ones. The influence of the Nb barrier and solid-state diffusion on the loss values is investigated.

The absence of a linear behaviour of the dependence of the resistance() over a temperature interval 77–300 K was observed for ceramic superconductors YBa2Cu3O7−δand thick polycrystallin films of the same composition with the addition of silver. A comparative analysis of the excess conductivity for HTSC and metal samples, characterizing the deviationR(T) from a linear dependence, allows one to determine the onset temperature of fluctuation superconductivity: within 105–110 K. The analysis of fluctuation superconductivity is performed using the Aslamazov–Larkin model. A smooth transition from the one-dimensional to the two- and three-dimensional nature of superconducting fluctuations in the order parameter was observed for ceramic samples as the temperature decreased.

A comparison of the a.c. energy losses of Nb-Ti composite superconductors at various time intervals over several years is carried out. The observed decrease of eddy current losses by a factor of 1.4 – 3.4 is probably associated with increasing effective transverse resistivity of the matrix due to diffusion between Nb-Ti and copper. The processes of aging did not result in a decreasing current-carrying capability.

The longitudinal resistance of a copper matrix in commercial multifilamentary superconducting wires with various numbers and diameters of Nb-Ti filaments has been measured. This was done at a temperature, T ≈ 12 K when PNb&z.sbnd;Ti, ≈103Pcu so that the longitudinal resistance of a sample is entirely determined by copper. For all samples the resistivity, ϱ∥, in the core consisting of both Cu and NbTi, is greater than the resistivity, Pcu, in the surface superconductor-free layer. Size effect makes a significant contribution to the value of ϱ∥. If a current is passed through a multifilamentary superconducting wire perpendicular to the superconducting filaments, a state specific to two-dimensional superconductors is created. The temperature dependence of the transverse resistance of the samples used was analogous to that of the resistance of a two-dimensional system. Thus, after the superconducting transition of the NbTi-50 filaments, a decrease in the temperature leads to a monotonic decrease of the resistance due to the proximity effect. This is in good agreement with a mathematical model developed for such two-dimensional superconductors.