The Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility (SARAF) - Overview, Research Programs and Future Plans

Abstract

The Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility (SARAF) is under construction in the Soreq Nuclear Research Center at Yavne, Israel. When completed at the beginning of the next decade, SARAF will be a user facility for basic and applied nuclear physics, based on a 40 MeV, 5 mA CW proton/deuteron superconducting linear accelerator. Phase I of SARAF (SARAF-I, 4 MeV, 2 mA CW protons, 5 MeV 1 mA CW deuterons) is already in operation, generating scientific results in several fields of interest. The main ongoing program at SARAF-I is the production of 30 keV neutrons and measurement of Maxwellian Averaged Cross Sections (MACS), important for the astrophysical s-process. The world leading Maxwellian epithermal neutron yield at SARAF-I ($5\times 10^{10}$ epithermal neutrons/sec), generated by a novel Liquid-Lithium Target (LiLiT), enables improved precision of known MACSs, and new measurements of low-abundance and radioactive isotopes. Research plans for SARAF-II span several disciplines: Precision studies of beyond-Standard-Model effects by trapping light exotic radioisotopes, such as ${}^6$He, ${}^8$Li and ${}^{18,19,23}$Ne, in unprecedented amounts (including meaningful studies already at SARAF-I); extended nuclear astrophysics research with higher energy neutrons, including generation and studies of exotic neutron-rich isotopes relevant to the rapid (r-) process; nuclear structure of exotic isotopes; high energy neutron cross sections for basic nuclear physics and material science research, including neutron induced radiation damage; neutron based imaging and therapy; and novel radiopharmaceuticals development and production. In this paper we present a technical overview of SARAF-I and II, including a description of the accelerator and its irradiation targets; a survey of existing research programs at SARAF-I; and the research potential at the completed facility (SARAF-II).

arXiv comment32 pages, 31 figures, 10 tables, submitted as an invited review to European Physics Journal A

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Cited by in corpus (20)

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• Novel Techniques for Constraining Neutron-Capture Rates Relevant for r-Process Heavy-Element Nucleosynthesis
• The Status and Future of Direct Nuclear Reaction Measurements for Stellar Burning
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• Stellar ${}^{36,38}$Ar$(n,\gamma {)}^{37,39}$Ar reactions and their effect on light neutron-rich nuclide synthesis
• Weak interaction studies at SARAF
• A global study of ${}^9$Be + p at 2.72 A MeV
• Deuteron-induced reactions on manganese at low energies
• Multipole decomposition of tensor interactions of fermionic probes with composite particles and BSM signatures in nuclear reactions
• A formalism to assess the accuracy of nuclear-structure weak interaction effects in precision $\beta$-decay studies
• A decay microscope for trapped neon isotopes
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• Modeling of Deuteron Induced Reactions on Molybdenum at Low Energies
• Stellar s-process neutron capture cross section of Ce isotopes
• Nonrelativistic nuclear reduction for tensor couplings in dark matter direct detection and $\mu \to e$ conversion
• Unique forbidden beta decays at zero momentum transfer
• Production of Quasi-Stellar Neutron Field at Explosive Stellar Temperatures
• Stellar $s$-process neutron capture cross sections of ${}^{69,71}$Ga
• ${}^{23}$Ne Production at SARAF-I
• Stellar s-process neutron capture cross sections on A-Se and A-Ce