Michigan State University in East Lansing will construct a High-Transmission Beam Line, or HTBL, one of the two segments of the High Rigidity Spectrometer, in an overall plan to advance scientific research and productivity.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, or DOE-SC, approved the start of execution of a $49.7 million instrument at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB. Located in East Lansing, the center is a scientific user facility for nuclear science.
The High Rigidity Spectrometer is a scientific instrument designed to serve as the core of FRIB’s fast-beam program. HRS will significantly extend FRIB’s scientific reach for neutron-rich isotopes. Such isotopes are otherwise only created in exploding and colliding stars.
With the new spectrometer, the luminosity for experiments with the most neutron-rich and interesting nuclei will increase by a factor of up to 100, according to DOE-SC.
The HRS user group includes more than 500 scientists from 21 U.S. universities, five national laboratories and laboratories in Canada, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
With near 100 percent efficiency, HRS will transmit isotopes that travel at velocities high enough for optimal rare-isotope production rates — around 50 percent of the speed of light.
The high-velocity transmissions allow the foils in the rare-isotope production target — where reactions between isotopes take place — to be much thicker, greatly increasing the potential of a desired isotope reaction. HRS will enable scientists to identify the properties of isotopes, such as mass, charge and velocity, created in these rare-isotope reactions.
HRS (including both HTBL and SPS) is over 230 feet long. HTBL consists of 12 magnets of differing magnetic field configurations and functions, weighing 640,000 pounds in total. They transport isotopes travelling at 50 percent of the speed of light with near 100 percent transmission to experiment stations.
In addition, SPS contains eight additional magnets, two of which are the largest dipole magnets that FRIB has built to date, weighing 1.3 million and 740,000 pounds each. The science case for HRS and other details are laid out on the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s HRS site.
HTBL technical execution is slated to be completed in April 2030, pending annual Congressional appropriations.
“FRIB plays a crucial role in helping MSU work toward its $1 billion research expenditure goal by 2030, as envisioned in the MSU Strategic Plan, embodying a shared vision to foster innovation, enhance collaboration, and create impactful futures that will drive positive change for the world,” says Doug Gage, vice president for research and innovation at MSU.
MSU operates FRIB as a DOE-SC user facility, with financial assistance from the DOE-SC Office of Nuclear Physics. FRIB began operations in May 2022. The 536,000-square-foot facility was completed ahead of schedule and on budget.
FRIB operates the world’s most powerful rare isotope accelerator and serves as a world-class research and training center for sciences, medicine, materials science, national security, and industry.
“We are excited to advance the High-Transmission Beam Line, a key step for experiments in understanding rare isotopes,” says Thomas Glasmacher, director of the FRIB Laboratory.
“HTBL will greatly expand FRIB’s scientific reach, enabling groundbreaking discoveries in nuclear physics. HTBL is made possible by the continued support of the federal government and the American public, whose investment in basic research infrastructure is vital to advancing knowledge for American competitiveness.”
For more information about the High Rigidity Spectrometer, visit here.
