Introduction

The Heavy Ion Laboratory of the Warsaw University is a user-type facility, providing heavy ion beams to a number of Polish and foreign research groups and, to a limited extent, for its own research programme. In 2007 the Warsaw Cyclotron delivered almost 2000 hours of beam on target. Fifteen experiments were performed following the recommendations of the Programme Advisory Committee and for these studies more than one hundred user accesses to our facility were granted. Among papers, published in 2007 and in the beginning of 2008, one should mention the first '' regular '' publication resulting from work using the Warsaw IGISOL system (Phys. Rev. C76(2007)054320), dealing with the α decay of a newly found isomer in 216Fr. The Lodz-Warsaw collaboration published a detailed description of their recently developed conversion electron spectrometer (NIM A585(2008)155), which is presently coupled to the gamma-ray multidetector system OSIRIS-II in order to investigate properties of long-lived isomeric states in gamma-electron coincidence measurements. Two papers from the Kiev-Krakow-Warsaw collaboration (Eur. Phys. J. A33(2007)317, Nucl. Phys. A785 (2007)293) describe the results of investigation of elastic and inelastic scattering of light heavy ions on light targets. Finally, a paper by visitors from Kielce presents the data obtained using directly the beam from the ECR ion source (Vacuum 81(2007) 1348). The section B of this Report presents on-going research projects. Let me quote a few examples of these contributions. The very active Coulomb Excitation group (based mainly at HIL) presents a new implementation of an algorithm allowing to speed up the data evaluation using the GOSIA code. After years of work with single germanium detectors, operating in coincidence with the CUDAC scattering chamber, the same group eventually migrated to the OSIRIS-II gamma-ray multidetector system, substantially increasing the event statistics in the study of Coulomb excited levels in 100Mo. A team led by Nuclear Physics Division of the Warsaw University continues its research on chiral symmetry breaking in nuclei in the mass region around A=130. Their recent experimental work resulted in a large set of nuclear level lifetimes in 130La measured using the Doppler Shift Attenuation Method The same group proposes a phenomenological classification of the symmetry breaking phenomenon based on the transition probabilities, previously determined using the Warsaw Cyclotron beams. Their achievements were clearly recognized by the Polish scientific community - Dr. Ernest Grodner from this group was awarded in 2007 the prestigious Zdzislaw Szymanski Prize, as well as the Prime Minister Prize for the best PhD thesis in 2006. A young and active team from the Department of Physics, University of Lodz reports on the conversion electron study of the 9 ms isomer in 132Ce. A substantial funding from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in December 2006 allowed us to order a part of the new ECR ion source from the French company PANTECHNIK. The contract between the Warsaw University and the Company was signed in the beginning of 2008. The strong involvement of the Heavy Ion Laboratory in the Warsaw PET Project was continued in 2007 and is described in section A. However, the installation of the Radiopharmaceuticals Production Centre in the Heavy Ion Laboratory building has been substantially delayed due to legal and administrative problems. After a lot of efforts, the deadline for the building adaptation and the equipment installation has been fixed for the beginning of 2009. The idea of constructing in Poland a fourth generation High Temperature Nuclear Reactor (HTR) emerged from our Laboratory. The process of coal to liquid fuels conversion would allow the reduction of CO2 emission. The future of this project, depending on decisions to be made at the governmental level, is still uncertain. However, its reception by at least a part of European atomic energy communities was encouraging. The rich programme of educational and science popularisation activities, in which the Laboratory staff is engaged, was continued in 2007 and is described in Part A of this Report. Another important and time-consuming activity was related to the HIL participation in the European Commission FP7 programmes. Last year, under call FP7-Infrastructures-2007-1 the proposal '' SPIRAL2-Preparatory Phase '' was accepted. Our Laboratory participates in one of the Work Packages of this proposal. Two other proposals were recently prepared by the European nuclear physics community within a similar EC call for 2008. The first one, ENSAR, as a successor of EURONS realized within the FP6 was mainly intended to finance the nuclear physics research via the European Large Scale Facilities. However, the activity and persistence of smaller laboratories from Central and Eastern Europe (operating within the East-West Outreach Network in EURONS) resulted in them being accepted into ENSAR within a common JRA EWIRA (East-West Integrated Research Activity). In addition, our Laboratory participates in one of the Networks of the ENSAR project. The second proposal, called EUCYNET, emanates from the network of small European cyclotrons operating for medical and material research applications. Within this proposal our Laboratory offers the Transnational Access to the presently operating heavy ion cyclotron as well as to the future proton machine. If it is accepted, we will also participate in three Networking Activities of this project. The two above-mentioned proposals were submitted to the EC at the end of February 2008. It is expected that the Evaluation Summary Reports will be sent to proposal coordinators mid-May 2008. (author)