The SPES project: a second generation ISOL facility

SPES (Selective Production of Exotic Species) is an INFN project to develop a Radioactive Ion Beam (RIB) facility as an intermediate step toward the future generation European ISOL facility EURISOL. The aim of the SPES project is to provide high intensity and high-quality beams of neutron-rich nuclei to perform forefront research in nuclear structure, reaction dynamics and in interdisciplinary fields like medical, biological and material sciences. The SPES project is part of the INFN Road Map for the Nuclear Physics, it is supported by the Italian national laboratories LNL (Legnaro) and LNS (Catania). It is based on the ISOL method with an UCx Direct Target able to produce 1013 fission/s by proton induced fission in the UCx target. The primary proton beam is delivered by a Cyclotron accelerator with energy of more than 40 MeV and a beam current of 200 μA and the target is designed to sustain a beam power of 8-10 kW. The exotic isotopes will be re-accelerated by the ALPI superconducting LINAC at energies of 10 AMeV and higher, for masses in the region of A=130 amu, with an expected rate on the secondary target of 107 - 109 pps. The status of the project will be reported pointing to the development of the target design and to the facility perspectives. (author)