A state of the RIKEN radioisotope beam factory (RIBF)

The RIKEN Radioisotope Beam Factory (RIBF) consisted of a heavy ion injector linac (RILAC), an injector cyclotron (AVF), four ring cyclotrons (RRC, fRC, IRC and SRC), projectile-fragment separators (RIPS and BigRIPS) when its operation was started at the end of 2006. A new injector heavy ion linac (RILAC-II) with a 28 GHz superconducting ECR ion source was completed in the last March. SRC is the final stage cyclotron of superconducting and its maximum energy is 400 MeV/nucleon for lighter ions of hydrogen to Ar and 350 MeV/nucleon for heavier ions up to uranium. The achieved beam intensity is 1 pμA for 4He and a few pnA for 238U. Polarized deuteron beam is also available. In spite of the big earthquake on March 11, the damage on the accelerators was quite small, that is, vacuum leaks were found at two points in the transport lines. They were already repaired, and the test acceleration was successfully finished. A water leak was found at the Dee electrode of the AVF cyclotron, and it was also repaired. New developed electron-nucleus scattering equipment is under construction. It is called SCRIT (Self-Confining Radioisotope Ion Target), and consists of a 150-MeV microtron and a 700-MeV electron synchrotron storage-ring. Uranium photo-fission target system and an ISOL will be constructed for the unstable-nuclide supply. It will realize the electron scattering experiment with unstable nuclides for the first time. (author)