Nuclear physics research at Inter-University Accelerator Centre

The research programmes in nuclear physics pursued at the Inter-University Accelerator Centre (previously known as Nuclear Science Centre) has been focussed on nuclear reaction dynamics and nuclear structure. The 15 UD Pelletron accelerator has been providing heavy ion beams in the energy range 5-7 MeV/A for these experiments. The main tool for reaction studies has been the Heavy Ion Reaction Analyser (HIRA) and the General Purpose Scattering Chamber. Research is also proceeding in the direction of exploiting possibilities with Radioactive Ion Beams (RIB) generated exploiting novel modes of the spectrometer HIRA. Several experiments have been performed using 7Be beam. Other light RIBs would be available for experiments. The spectroscopic studies are carried out using Gamma Detector Array (GDA) and related facilities. Apart from these investigations, attempts were made to combine these two facilities namely HlRA and GDA to study gamma spectroscopy of extremely weak nuclear reaction channels. The accelerator facility is being augmented with a superconducting linac that would boost the energies of heavy ions to double that currently available. A high current injector is also planned that would enhance the ion beam flux almost ten folds and enable low cross section measurements. Experimental facilities for nuclear physics are being augmented with an aim to couple a new Hybrid Recoil Analyser (HYRA) with Indian National Gamma Array (INGA) which will provide a front ranking facility with some unique features for research in nuclear structure and reaction dynamics. (author)