Nuclei, the fuel that burns in stars, make up 99.9% of all baryonic matter in the universe. 1 The complex nature of the nuclear forces among protons and neutrons generates a broad range and diversity of nuclear phenomena. Developing a comprehensive description of nuclei and their reactions represents one of the great intellectual opportunities for physics. As nuclear physicists have seen during the past 10 years, success will require theoretical and experimental investigations of isotopes with unusual neutron-to-proton ratios. Such nuclei, which are typically not found on Earth, are called exotic or rare.
Exotic nuclei, particularly those that have extremely short lifetimes, are difficult to produce experimentally. National user facilities at Argonne and Oak Ridge national laboratories and at Michigan State University, along with other university and national laboratories, are paving the way to exciting initial discoveries. And a new generation of rare-isotope facilities is now coming into service...
