Heavy ion reaction analyzer (HIRA): a recoil mass separator facility at NSC

An inter-university research facility using a 16 MV tandem ion accelerator has been set up at Nuclear Science Centre (NSC), New Delhi. The heavy ion reaction analyzer (HIRA), a major experimental facility at NSC, is a large solid angle online mass separator for the reaction products preserving the kinematic correlation. It is designed to effectively separate the nuclear reaction products of interest from the elastically scattered beam, dispersing them with good mass resolution at its focal plane with energy and space focusing. HIRA transports the ions within a short time (∼μs) without losing the time correlation with the instant of reaction. The transit time spread (for a given energy) due to different flight paths is very small. With capability of operation over an angular range of -15 to +40 , HIRA is planned as a versatile reaction analyzer for heavy ion studies. In section 1 we give details of ion optical considerations and design goals. Section 2 gives some hardware details and results of field mapping of various magnetic components. The last section gives some of the results obtained in the preliminary measurements. (orig.)