The production target at ISAC Available to Purchase

The ISAC Radioactive Ion Beams (RIB) facility is operational since November 1998. The facility utilizes the Isotopic Separation On Line (ISOL) method to produce the RIB. The new ISAC facility at TRIUMF includes: a new building with 5000 m² of floor space; a new beam line with adequate shielding to transport up to 100 μA of proton at 500 MeV from the existing $H−$ cyclotron to two target stations, remote handling facility for the targets services, a high resolution mass separator, a linear accelerator and experimental facilities. A novel approach for the target/ion source station is described. The target/ion source assembly and heavy ion optics components are located in a shielded canyon under 2 m of steel shielding allowing high proton beam intensity on thick targets. Existing foil targets design can accommodate up to 50 μA beam intensities and the available intensities of many radionuclides can be expected to scale with the proton beam currents. But, production targets capable of withstanding proton beam intensities up to 100 μA without compromising the radionuclide yield and the lifetime of the target will be a future challenge. Several approaches to the dissipation of the power in such targets by the proton beam have been investigated and a realistic solution for the removal of the heat from the target container seems possible. The heat transfer within the target material itself, however, is highly target dependent and it is clear that 100 μA operation will be limited at least initially to only a few target materials that are refractory and have good heat conduction to withstand high power deposition.