Current status of pelletron and proposed facility upgrade

BARC-TIFR Pelletron Accelerator has been operational on a round the clock basis since December 1988 serving diverse users from within and outside DAE. The accelerator is mainly utilized to carry out basic research in the fields of nuclear, atomic and condensed matter physics as well as material science. Over the years, a variety of beams from proton to Iodine have been accelerated as per user requirements. The developmental activities which have been initiated at Pelletron have resulted in enhancing the performance of the accelerator and also enabling a variety of application oriented programmes. Recently, digitization of beam profile monitors has been implemented for accelerator monitoring and control. This talk will describe the current operational status of Pelletron and describe the various developmental activities carried out at Pelletron. Various on-going application oriented programmes would also be presented. Further, an upgrade to sustain the accelerating potential at 14MV has been proposed. The details of the envisaged facility upgrade would also be described. (author)