Facility for Research in Experimental Nuclear Astrophysics (FRENA) at SINP and related activities

The study of nuclear astrophysics involves precise measurement of reaction rates with very low probabilities or cross sections at astrophysical energies. With the aim of developing a facility for research in experimental nuclear astrophysics, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata proposed FRENA. The acronym FRENA stand for Facility for Research in Experimental Nuclear Astrophysics. The proposed facility, presently under the process of installation at the Bidhannagar Campus of SINP, is built around a 3 MY Tandetron (Tandem Accelerator) with a lowest terminal voltage of 200 kV. This accelerator has primarily been procured from High Voltage Engineering, The Netherlands, and is being assembled at the site for FRENA. The machine is capable of delivering very high beam currents required for experiments studying the reactions of astrophysical interest. In the context of the upcoming facility, the research activities of the members of FRENA Group, SINP presented here