Experimental Facilities at iThemba
LABS and Measurements to Constrain
Astrophysical Processes
Mathis Wiedeking
1 Introduction
The iThemba LABS K = 200 separated sector cyclotron (SSC) has been utilized
for nuclear physics research since its commissioning in the mid-1980s. In the past
30 years, beam time has been divided between three programs (nuclear physics,
hadron therapy, and isotope production), which limited the competitiveness of the
nuclear physics research program. While beam time for nuclear physics research
is not limited to weekends any longer, it will be increased significantly when the
laboratory starts operations of the 70 MeV accelerator for radioisotope production
(South African Isotope Facility—SAIF).
Subatomic Physics research will continue to play a major part of research at
iThemba LABS. The research programs will focus on niche areas where iThemba
LABS will complement the research carried out at cognate laboratories around the
world [1]. The research infrastructure is in the progress to be significantly improved
and the human resources will be supplemented to enable the laboratory to deliver
on its research and training/education mandates.
The nuclear physics research topics at iThemba LABS are broadly classified into
Nuclear Reaction, Nuclear Structure, and Applications of Nuclear Physics.
Over the last few years the benefits and possibilities of combining research equipment to perform cutting edge measurements have been realized and implemented.
The merging of the K600 magnetic spectrometer with the AFRODITE Clover
detectors is a prime example of a powerful setup and is shown in Fig. 1. New silicon
particle arrays have also been developed over the last few years and can be coupled
to AFRODITE and the K600 spectrometer. Several major experimental capabilities
M. Wiedeking ()
iThemba LABS, Cape Town, South Africa
e-mail: wiedeking@tlabs.ac.za
© This is a U.S. government work and not under copyright protection
in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply 2021
J. Escher et al. (eds.), Compound-Nuclear Reactions, Springer Proceedings in
Physics 254, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58082-7_40
315
LABS and Measurements to Constrain
Astrophysical Processes
Mathis Wiedeking
1 Introduction
The iThemba LABS K = 200 separated sector cyclotron (SSC) has been utilized
for nuclear physics research since its commissioning in the mid-1980s. In the past
30 years, beam time has been divided between three programs (nuclear physics,
hadron therapy, and isotope production), which limited the competitiveness of the
nuclear physics research program. While beam time for nuclear physics research
is not limited to weekends any longer, it will be increased significantly when the
laboratory starts operations of the 70 MeV accelerator for radioisotope production
(South African Isotope Facility—SAIF).
Subatomic Physics research will continue to play a major part of research at
iThemba LABS. The research programs will focus on niche areas where iThemba
LABS will complement the research carried out at cognate laboratories around the
world [1]. The research infrastructure is in the progress to be significantly improved
and the human resources will be supplemented to enable the laboratory to deliver
on its research and training/education mandates.
The nuclear physics research topics at iThemba LABS are broadly classified into
Nuclear Reaction, Nuclear Structure, and Applications of Nuclear Physics.
Over the last few years the benefits and possibilities of combining research equipment to perform cutting edge measurements have been realized and implemented.
The merging of the K600 magnetic spectrometer with the AFRODITE Clover
detectors is a prime example of a powerful setup and is shown in Fig. 1. New silicon
particle arrays have also been developed over the last few years and can be coupled
to AFRODITE and the K600 spectrometer. Several major experimental capabilities
M. Wiedeking ()
iThemba LABS, Cape Town, South Africa
e-mail: wiedeking@tlabs.ac.za
© This is a U.S. government work and not under copyright protection
in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply 2021
J. Escher et al. (eds.), Compound-Nuclear Reactions, Springer Proceedings in
Physics 254, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58082-7_40
315