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In this paper, a complete three-dimensional (3D) RF model of the cyclotron coaxial resonator—including the coaxial sliding shorts, the “Liner” vacuum chamber, the coupler, the trimmer, and the high RF voltage “Dee” structures—has been developed. An eigenmode analysis was used to simulate the tuning of the resonator in the operating frequency range of 15–48 MHz obtained by two movable sliding shorts and a trimmer. A driven analysis has been performed in order to compute the |S11| parameter (or impedance matching) of the cavity excited by a movable coaxial power coupler. The numerical simulations have been performed using the different peculiarities of two commercial tools, COMSOL Multiphysics and CST microwave studio. Experimental validation of the developed model is presented. The evidence of an unwanted electric field component, orthogonal to the accelerating field, was discovered and a mitigation is also proposed. The impact of the proposed modification was evaluated by using a 3D beam dynamics code under development in the framework of the Superconducting Cyclotron upgrade ongoing at INFN-LNS.

A first prototype of transport beam-line for laser-driven ion beams to be used for the handling of particles accelerated by high-power laser interacting with solid targets has been realized at INFN. The goal is the production of a controlled and stable beam in terms of energy and angular spread. The beam-line consists of two elements: an Energy Selection System (ESS), already realized and characterized with both conventional and laser-accelerated beams, and a Permanent Magnet Quadrupole system (PMQ) designed, in collaboration with SIGMAPHI (Fr), to improve the ESS performances. In this work a description of the ESS system and some results of its characterization with conventional beams are reported, in order to provide a complete explanation of the acceptance calculation. Then, the matching with the PMQ system is presented and, finally, the results of preliminary simulations with a realistic laser-driven energy spectrum are discussed demonstrating the possibility to provide a good quality beam downstream the systems.

Since 2017, the Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (LNS) – INFN Catania is involved into the ASI Supported Irradiation Facilties (ASIF) Project. This program is formulated by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) aims to establish an interactive coordinated set of the irradiation facilities, throughout the national territory, serving the national and international space communities. All the facilities involved must follow the recommendations provided by the ESA in order to obtain the standardization of the space testing procedures. Two beamlines at LNS have been appropriately adapted for Integrated Dose Test and Single Event Effect measurement. The paper will present the upgrade measures implemented to fulfill the European Space Agency (ESA) recommendations and the latest results of beam diagnostic system.

International audience; The article describes the main achievements of the NUMEN project together with an updated and detailed overview of the related R&D activities and theoretical developments. NUMEN proposes an innovative technique to access the nuclear matrix elements entering the expression of the lifetime of the double beta decay by cross section measurements of heavy-ion induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reactions. Despite the fact that the two processes, namely neutrinoless double beta decay and DCE reactions, are triggered by the weak and strong interaction respectively, important analogies are suggested. The basic point is the coincidence of the initial and final state many-body wave functions in the two types of processes and the formal similarity of the transition operators. First experimental results obtained at the INFN-LNS laboratory for the$^{40}$Ca($^{18}$O,$^{18}$Ne)$^{40}$Ar reaction at 270MeV give an encouraging indication on the capability of the proposed technique to access relevant quantitative information. The main experimental tools for this project are the K800 Superconducting Cyclotron and MAGNEX spectrometer. The former is used for the acceleration of the required high resolution and low emittance heavy-ion beams and the latter is the large acceptance magnetic spectrometer for the detection of the ejectiles. The use of the high-order trajectory reconstruction technique, implemented in MAGNEX, allows to reach the experimental resolution and sensitivity required for the accurate measurement of the DCE cross sections at forward angles. However, the tiny values of such cross sections and the resolution requirements demand beam intensities much larger than those manageable with the present facility. The on-going upgrade of the INFN-LNS facilities in this perspective is part of the NUMEN project and will be discussed in the article.

The NUMEN project aims at accessing experimentally driven information on Nuclear Matrix Elements (NME) involved in the half-life of the neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ), by high-accuracy measurements of Heavy Ion (HI) induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reaction cross sections. In particular, the (18O,18Ne) and (20Ne,20O) reactions are used as tools for β+β+ and β−β− decays, respectively. In the experiments, performed at INFN - Laboratory Nazionali del Sud (LNS) in Catania, the beams are accelerated by the Superconducting Cyclotron (CS) and the reaction ejectiles are detected the MAGNEX magnetic spectrometer. The measured cross sections are challengingly low (a few nb), being the total reaction cross section much larger (a few b), thus a high sensitivity and a large rejection capability are demanded to the experimental set-up. This limits the present exploration to few selected isotopes of interest in the context of typically low-yield experimental runs. A major upgrade of the LNS facility is foreseen in order to increase the experimental yield of at least two orders of magnitude, still keeping the high sensitivity of the present set-up, making it feasible a systematic study of all the cases of interest. Frontiers technologies are going to be developed, to this purpose, for the accelerator and the detection systems. In parallel, advanced theoretical models are being developed in order to extract the nuclear structure information from the measured cross sections.

The aim of the NUMEN project is to access the Nuclear Matrix Elements (NME), involved in the half life of the neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ), by measuring the cross sections of Heavy Ions (HI) induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reactions with high accuracy. First evidence of the possibility to get quantitative information about NME from experiments is shown in the reaction 40Ca(18O,18Ne)40Ar at 270 MeV, performed with MAGNEX spectrometer using Superconducting Cyclotron (CS) beams at INFN - Laboratory Nazionali del Sud (LNS) in Catania. Preliminary tests on 116Sn and 116Cd target are already performed. High beam intensity is the new frontiers for these studies.

The inverse-kinematic thick-target method has been used in order to investigate 212Po alpha-structure by the elastic scattering of 208Pb on 4He target. A 208Pb beam, accelerated by the Superconducting Cyclotron (CS) of Laboratori Nazionali del Sud - INFN, at the incident energy of 10.1 A MeV was impinging onto a specifically designed 4He gas cell, two meter long. The gas cell wasacting both as target and as beam degrader, stopping the beam before reaching the alpha-particle detection system placed at 0° with respect to the beam axis. In order to disentangle the elastic contribution from other reaction channels (e.g. inelastic scattering) a microchannel plate was used to measure the Time of Flight(ToF) of both the 208Pb beam particles and the ejectiles along the gas cell. The 208Pbstopping power in the 4He gas target was also measured, as a key ingredient in order to establish theinteraction point inside the gas cell, in turn determining the solid angle covered by the detector. In the following, the experimental technique will be described, and the results of a preliminary data analysis will be shown.

A cheap and efficient diagnostic system for beam monitoring has been recently developed at INFN-LNS in Catania. It consists of a high sensitivity CCD camera detecting the light produced by an ion beam hitting the surface of a scintillating screen and a frame grabber for image acquisition. A scintillating screen, developed at INFN-LNS and consisting of a 2 μm BaF2 layer evaporated on an aluminium plate, has been tested by using (20)Ne and (40)Ar beams in the keV energy range. The CAESAR ECR ion source has been used for investigating the influence of the frequency and magnetic field tuning effects, the impact of the microwave injected power, and of the focusing solenoids along the low energy beam transport on the beam shape and current. These tests will allow to better understand the interplay between the plasma and beam dynamics and, moreover, to improve the transport efficiency along the low energy beam line and the matching with the superconducting cyclotron, particularly relevant in view of the expected upgrade of the machine.

Neutrinoless double beta decay (0v\b{eta}\b{eta}) is considered the best potential resource to access the absolute neutrino mass scale. Moreover, if observed, it will signal that neutrinos are their own anti-particles (Majorana particles). Presently, this physics case is one of the most important research "beyond Standard Model" and might guide the way towards a Grand Unified Theory of fundamental interactions. Since the 0v\b{eta}\b{eta} decay process involves nuclei, its analysis necessarily implies nuclear structure issues. In the NURE project, supported by a Starting Grant of the European Research Council (ERC), nuclear reactions of double charge-exchange (DCE) are used as a tool to extract information on the 0v\b{eta}\b{eta} Nuclear Matrix Elements. In DCE reactions and \b{eta}\b{eta} decay indeed the initial and final nuclear states are the same and the transition operators have similar structure. Thus the measurement of the DCE absolute cross-sections can give crucial information on \b{eta}\b{eta} matrix elements. In a wider view, the NUMEN international collaboration plans a major upgrade of the INFN-LNS facilities in the next years in order to increase the experimental production of nuclei of at least two orders of magnitude, thus making feasible a systematic study of all the cases of interest as candidates for 0v\b{eta}\b{eta}.

By bombarding a target with stable ion beams it is possible to produce nuclear radioactive species. The EXCYT facility at the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare - Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (INFN-LNS), in Catania, is based on a K-800 superconducting cyclotron injecting high intensity beam (up to 500 W) in a Target Ion Source (TIS) assembly, and on a 15 MV Tandem for post-accelerating the Radioactive Ion Beams (RIB). Radioactive species are produced in a solid porous target where, by diffusion, they will reach the target surface. After effusion through the target container, radioactive atoms are ionized, extracted at low energy, and changed in charge (if needed). Two stages of isobaric mass separators will clean the resulting radioactive beam from contaminants, thus the RIB is injected into the Tandem for the post-acceleration. TIS is operating at high temperature (up to 2700 K) under vacuum (10-4 mbar). The production of 8Li radioactive beam was performed by injecting a 13C4+ primary beam of 45 MeV/u on a porous graphite target. In this work we present a study to optimize the target geometry in order to increase the production of the RIB. Our first RIB was 8Li which mean life time is 1.212 s. The generation density of 8Li inside the solid target is calculated by EPAX II code. A simple diffusion model which takes into account either the nuclei generation and their decay, was computer simulated to estimate the efficacious diffusion coefficient of 8Li in porous graphite which resulted to be in the range of 10-6 - 10-5 cm2/s. Since the porous nature of the target, many diffusion mechanisms are active, our assumption, supported by experimental evidence, is that at such high temperature multi-grain diffusion prevails. Diffusion length inside the target of 8Li, before its decay, resulted to be sensible smaller than the target size, therefore we modified its geometry enhancing the RIB production by a factor of 3-4.

The aim of the EXCYT (EXotics with CYclotron and Tandem) facility is the production and acceleration of radioactive ion beams (RIBs). A primary beam provided by the K-800 superconducting cyclotron will produce, in a target-ion source complex (TIS), the required nuclear species which can be used for low energy experiments (up to 300 keV) or at higher energy by post-accelerating them with the 15 MV tandem. The nuclear experiments programme started in July 2006 with the experiments BIGBANG and RCS using the post-accelerated 8Li ions. Since then 8Li, 9Li and 21Na beams have been already produced and in the near future production of oxygen, fluorine and chlorine beams have been planned, according to the experimental proposals, with beam intensities ranging between 104 to 106 pps and at the typical energies of our tandem.

The EXCYT facility at the INFN-LNS is based on a K-800 superconducting cyclotron, as a driver for stable heavy ion beams (up to 80 MeV/amu, 1 pμA), and on a 15 MV tandem for post-accelerating the radioactive ion beams produced in a target-ion source (TIS) assembly. For some ion beam such as for Li, the higher extraction efficiency from the TIS is obtained by positive ionisation. Then the injection into the tandem is suitable only after a charge exchange (CEC) to obtain negative ions. The production of the radioactive ions were performed by injecting a 13C4+ primary beam of 45 MeV/amu on a graphite target up to a beam power of 150 W, while the ionisation was achieved by a tungsten positive surface ioniser. The Li+ has been produced at different energies to cross-check the transmission efficiency together with the charge exchange efficiency. The CEC consists of a cell containing Cs vapours which interact with the Li beam converting its charge from +1 to –1 by a two-step reaction; it was already characterized off-line and the results obtained at the EXCYT facility confirm our previous observations and expectations such as the efficiency at the extraction energies and the isotopic shift effect. Hereinafter the results of 8,9Li beams production are reported together with a brief presentation of the facility and with some future improvements and plan.

In the NUMEN Project it is proposed an innovative technique to access the nuclear matrix elements entering in the expression of the life-time of the neutrinoless double beta decay, using relevant cross sections of double charge exchange reactions. A key aspect is the use of MAGNEX large acceptance magnetic spectrometer, for the detection of the ejectiles, and of the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (LNS) K800 Superconducting Cyclotron (CS), for the acceleration of the required high resolution and low emittance heavy-ion beams.

The design of a four sector compact superconducting cyclotron, able to accelerate up to 250 A MeV light ions with charge/mass ratio 0.5, is in progress. Light ions like 12 C 6+ , 10 B 5+ , 6 Li 3+ will be extracted by electrostatic deflectors while H 2 + ions can be extracted also by stripping, therefore a beam power of 10 kW or more is available. This cyclotron can be used for radiotherapy with protons or carbon ions and also to drive a facility for production of unusual medical radioisotopes. The main parameters and some features of the machine are here presented.

A superconducting cyclotron accelerating ions up to 250 A MeV, for medical applications and radioactive ions production is being studied at Laboratori Nazionali del Sud in Catania. The radio frequency (RF) system, working in the fourth harmonic, is based on four normal conducting radio frequency cavities operating at 93 MHz. This paper describes an unusual multi-stem cavity design, performed with 3D electromagnetic codes. Our aim is to obtain a cavity, completely housed inside the cyclotron, with a voltage distribution ranging from 65 kV in the injection region to a peak value of 120 kV in the extraction region, and having a low power consumption.

The design of a compact superconducting cyclotron able to deliver light ions with Q/A=0.5 at 250 A MeV is presented. This cyclotron is optimised to accelerate H 2 + molecules to be extracted by stripping. The extraction by stripping allows to extract high beam power to drive a facility of radioactive ion beams. Simultaneously a low intensity beam could be extracted to perform radiotherapy treatment and interdisciplinary research. The main characteristics of the accelerator are presented.

The LNS Superconducting Cyclotron, named “Ciclotrone Superconduttore” (CS), has been in operation for more than 20 years. A wide range of ion species from hydrogen to lead, with energy in the range 10 to 80 AMeV, have been delivered to users. The maximum beam power is limited to 100 W due to the beam dissipation on the electrostatic deflectors. To fulfil the demand of users aiming at studying rare processes in nuclear physics, an upgrade of the cyclotron is necessarily intended to increase the intensity of ion beams with mass lower than 40 a.m.u. up to a power 10 kW. This will be achieved by means of extraction by stripping. This solution needs to replace the cryostat including the superconducting coils. The present capability of the cyclotron will be maintained, i.e. all the ion species allowed by the operating diagram will be available, being extracted by electrostatic extraction. In addition to the high power beams for nuclear physics, it will be possible to produce medical radioisotopes like [Formula: see text] using an internal target.

A high energy resolution, high dispersive power Thomson Parabola Spectrometer has been developed at INFN-LNS in order to characterize laser-driven beams up to 30- 40 MeV for protons. This device has parallel electric and magnetic field to deflect particles of a certain charge-to-mass ratio onto parabolic traces on the detection plane. Calibration of the deflection sector is crucial for data analysis, namely energy determination of analysed beam, and to evaluate the effective energy limit and resolution. This work reports the study of monochromatic proton beams delivered by the TANDEM accelerator at LNS (Catania) in the energy range between 6 and 12.5 MeV analysed with our spectrometer which allows a precise characterization of the electric and magnetic deflections. Also the energy and the Q/A resolutions and the energy limits have been evaluated proposing a mathematical model that can be used for data analysis, for the experimental set up and for the device scalability for higher energy.

The design of a mass separator is described for the radioactive ion beam facility at the INFN-LNS in Catania. The two stages of this separator achieve an energy achromatic mass separation, that should allow one to separate the different elements within one isobar as long as their Q β -values are larger than 5 MeV in the case of nuclei of mass 100. The system also incorporates a preseparator that should retain most of the activity produced in the target and ion source.

The aim of the EXCYT project (EXotics with CYclotron and Tandem) is the development of a facility for producing and accelerating exotic beams from 0.2 up to 8 MeV/amu. EXCYT is based on the “two accelerators” method. A K = 800 Superconducting Cyclotron (CS), axially injected by the ECR ion source SERSE, will deliver the primary beam. Such a beam will produce the required nuclear species in a modified ISOLDE type target-source complex. When required, a 15 MV Tandem Van der Graaff will accelerate the secondary beams. Both accelerators are existing and operational at Laboratorio Nazionale del Sud (LNS). Concerning the status of the project, progress has been made in most of the key issues of the project, like the construction of SERSE, cyclotron upgrading, modification of the existing building, high resolution mass separator, and diagnostic equipment for low energy, low intensity beams.

A heavy ion facility is now available at Laboratorio Nazionale del Sud (LNS) of Catania. It can deliver beams with an energy up to 100 MeV/amu. The facility is based on a 15MV HVEC tandem and a K = 800 superconducting cyclotron as booster. During the last year, the facility came into operation. A 58Ni beam delivered by the tandem has been radially injected in the SC and then has been accelerated and extracted at 30 MeV/amu. In this paper the status of the facility together with the experience gained during the commissioning will be extensively reported.

EXCYT, a project for a low energy ISOL facility at LNS, has been funded. It is based on two already existing particle accelerators. A K = 800 superconducting cyclotron will deliver the primary beam of ions A ≤ 48, E = 50–80 MeV/amu. After its interaction in a thick target, the negatively ionized radioactive products (A < 80) will be post-accelerated to 0.2–8 MeV/amu by a 15MV SMP tandem. A description of the facility, including the fully redesigned ion optics, an overview of the design problems and the expected secondary beam intensities are presented.

An innovative technique to access the nuclear matrix elements entering the expression of the life time of the double beta decay by relevant cross section measurements of double charge exchange reactions is proposed. A key aspect of the project is the use of the MAGNEX large acceptance magnetic spectrometer, for the detection of the ejectiles, and of the LNS K800 Superconducting Cyclotron (CS), for the acceleration of the required high resolution and low emittance heavy-ion beams, already in operation at INFN Laboratory Nazionali del Sud in Catania (Italy). However, a major upgrade is foreseen for the INFN-LNS research infrastructure to cope with beam currents as high as several ppA required by the project.

The Laboratorio Nazionale del Sud (LNS) of Catania is equipped with an upgraded 15 MV SMP tandem that is going to be coupled to a k = 800 supercond

11th Pisa Meeting on Advanced Detectors -- MAY 24-30, 2009 -- Isola Elba, ITALY WOS:000279258700090 There is particular interest to develop low-noise and wide dynamic range data acquisition systems for silicon detectors in view of using the same acquisition readout electronics for a wide range of application fields like monitoring and characterization of radiation sources or particle beams. In the framework of a research project for the qualification of Components Off The Shelf (COTS) for their use in space, research groups from INFN-Perugia, INFN-LNS and from MAPRAD have developed a fully automated, remote controllable, wide dynamic range acquisition system for silicon strip or pixelated detectors. Its design and a basic description of the performance are given here. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This paper describes the beam flux monitoring system that has been developed at the Superconducting Cyclotron at INFN-LNS (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Catania, Italy) in order to monitor the beam parameters such as energy, flux, beam profile, for SEE (Single Event Effects) cross-sections determination and DD (Displacement Damage) studies. In order to have an accurate and continuous monitoring of beam parameters we have developed fully automatic dosimetry setup to be used during SEE (with heavy ions) and DD (with protons up to 60 MeV) tests of electronic devices and systems. The final goal of our activity is to demonstrate that the operation of such a system in air is not detrimental to the accuracy on controlling the beam profile, energy and fluence delivered onto the DUT (Device Under Test) surface, even with non relativistic heavy ions. We have tested our beam monitoring system with the “Reference SEU monitor” developed by ESA/ESTEC, the results are discussed here.

Laser-based accelerators are gaining interest in recent years as an alternative to conventional machines [1]. Nowadays, energy and angular spread of the laser-driven beams are the main issues in application and different solutions for dedicated beam-transport lines have been proposed [2,3]. In this context a system of permanent magnet quadrupoles (PMQs) is going to be realized by INFN [2] researchers, in collaboration with SIGMAPHI [3] company in France, to be used as a collection and pre-selection system for laser driven proton beams. The definition of well specified characteristics, both in terms of performances and field quality, of the magnetic lenses is crucial for the system realization, for an accurate study of the beam dynamics and the proper matching with a magnetic selection system already realized [6,7]. Hence, different series of simulations have been used for studying the PMQs harmonic contents and stating the mechanical and magnetic tolerances in order to have reasonable good beam quality downstream the system. In this paper is reported the method used for the analysis of the PMQs errors and its validation. Also a preliminary optics characterization is presented in which are compared the effects of an ideal PMQs system with a perturbed system on a monochromatic proton beams.

At the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare-Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (INFN-LNS) in Catania, Italy, the first Italian protontherapy facility, named Centro di AdroTerapia e Applicazioni Nucleari Avanzate (CATANA) has been built in collaboration with the University of Catania. It is based on the use of the 62-MeV proton beam delivered by the K=800 Superconducting Cyclotron installed and working at INFN-LNS since 1995. The facility is mainly devoted to the treatment of ocular diseases like uveal melanoma. A beam treatment line in air has been assembled together with a dedicated positioning patient system. The facility has been in operation since the beginning of 2002 and 66 patients have been successfully treated up to now. The main features of CATANA together with the clinical and dosimetric features will be extensively described; particularly, the proton beam line, that has been entirely built at LNS, with all its elements, the experimental transversal and depth dose distributions of the 62-MeV proton beam obtained for a final collimator of 25-mm diameter and the experimental depth dose distributions of a modulated proton beam obtained for the same final collimator. Finally, the clinical results over 1 yr of treatments, describing the features of the treated diseases will be reported.

The EXCYT facility (EXotics with CYclotron and Tandem) at the INFN‐LNS is based on a K‐800 Superconducting Cyclotron injecting stable heavy‐ion beams (up to 80 MeV/amu, 1 eμA) into a target‐ion source assembly to produce the required nuclear species, and on a 15 MV Tandem for post‐accelerating the radioactive beams. Since December 1999 the Superconducting Cyclotron operates in a stand‐alone mode by means of the new axial injection beam line. The primary beam line has been already mounted and tested. The part of mass separator on the two high‐voltage platforms together with low intensity diagnostics is already installed while the ancillary items along with the part of mass separator at ground potential will be installed during the next stop of accelerator operations. The target‐ion source unit has been successfully tested on‐line at GANIL. The goal of such efforts will be represented by the test of the mass separator with stable beams planned at LNS by the end of the year. The commissioning of the EXCYT fa...

The EXCYT project at LNS, Catania, Italy aims for the production of radioactive ion beams to be accelerated by a tandem up to 8 MeV/amu. The primary beam coming from an ECR ion source goes into a K800 cyclotron and then to the target-ion source assembly. Here the species of interest are produced mainly by projectile fragmentation in a target thicker than the projectile range. The products diffuse through the heated target, are desorbed from its surface and go to the ion source via a transfer line. After ionization, the products are mass-separated and injected into the tandem to be post-accelerated and delivered to the users. It is worth noting that besides the post acceleration there is also an option to supply 300 keV beams for low energy experiments. In the following, the status of the project will be described in detail.

The compact heavy ion spectrometer MACISTE is going to be realized at the Laboratorio Nazionale del Sud-Catania (LNS). It should allow one to resolve the single mass unit up to A/spl ap/70 and the single charge up to Z/spl ap/45 when operating on ions around 50 MeV/amu. Coupling this device with other multidetectors already installed at LNS will give access to a large series of experiments concerning the projectile-like and the quasi-fusion physics at intermediate energy.

Radioactive ion beams are produced at INFN- Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (LNS) by means of the two operating accelerators, the Tandem and the Superconducting Cyclotron (CS), originally designed to accelerate stable beams. Both the ISOL (Isotope Separation On Line) and the IFF (In-Flight Fragmentation) methods are exploited to produce RIBs in two different ways at different energies: in the first case, the Cyclotron is the primary accelerator and the Tandem accelerates the secondary beams, while in the second case radioactive fragments are produced by the Cyclotron beam in a thin target with energies comparable to the primary beam energy. The ISOL facility is named EXCYT (Exotics at the Cyclotron and Tandem) and was commissioned in 2006, when the first radioactive beam (8Li) has been produced. The IFF installation is named FRIBs (in Flight Radioactive Ion Beams), and it has started to produce radioactive beams in 2001, placing a thin target in the extraction beam line of the Cyclotron. The development of both facilities to produce and accelerate radioactive ion beams at LNS, is briefly described, with some details on the future prospects that are presently under consideration or realization.

The EXCYT facility at the INFN-LNS aims to the production of radioactive ion beams to be post-accelerated by a 15 MV Tandem. The primary stable heavy-ion beam (up to 80 MeV/amu, 1 pμA) is supplied by a K-800 Superconducting Cyclotron, which has been operating in a stand-alone mode, by means of the new axial injection beam line, since December, 1999. The magnets of the primary beam line have been aligned and most of the components of the mass separator have been purchased. Different types of Heavy Ion Target–Source (HITS) systems have been built and are here described; in particular, a microwave ion source fully designed and manufactured at LNS has been assembled and successfully tested. Finally, low-intensity beam diagnostics is also ready and reliability tests are under way.

Construction of a composite wall detector to be used with the intermediate energy beams of the LNS Superconducting Cyclotron-the energy resolution for the large area (20*30 cm/sup 2/) plastic scintillator, 2 cm thick, used as energy measurement detector, was measured. This detector is coupled to a Hybrid Photo Diode (HPD), acting as a photoconverter device, by means of a light guide of suitable shape and dimension. Two kind of configurations of the light guide were tested, one with the light guide glued on the smaller surface 2*20 cm/sup 2/, and one with the light guide glued on the larger surface 20*30 cm/sup 2/.

Neutrinoless double beta decay (0{\nu}\b{eta}\b{eta}) is considered the best potential resource to determine the absolute neutrino mass scale. Moreover, if observed, it will signal that the total lepton number is not conserved and neutrinos are their own anti-particles. Presently, this physics case is one of the most important research beyond Standard Model and might guide the way towards a Grand Unified Theory of fundamental interactions. Since the \b{eta}\b{eta} decay process involves nuclei, its analysis necessarily implies nuclear structure issues. The 0{\nu}\b{eta}\b{eta} decay rate can be expressed as a product of independent factors: the phase-space factors, the nuclear matrix elements (NME) and a function of the masses of the neutrino species. Thus the knowledge of the NME can give information on the neutrino mass scale, if the 0{\nu}\b{eta}\b{eta} decay rate is measured. In the NURE project, supported by a Starting Grant of the European Research Council, nuclear reactions of double charge-exchange (DCE) will be used as a tool to extract information on the \b{eta}\b{eta} NME. In DCE reactions and \b{eta}\b{eta} decay, the initial and final nuclear states are the same and the transition operators have similar structure. Thus the measurement of the DCE absolute crosssections can give crucial information on \b{eta}\b{eta} matrix elements., Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2001.09657; text overlap with arXiv:2001.09648

The aim of the EXCYT project is to develop a facility for the production and the acceleration of exotic beams up to 8 MeV/amu. The primary beams shall be provided by the now operational K-800 superconducting cyclotron and the exotic ions will be accelerated by a 15 MV Tandem. We will describe the cyclotron source and its axial injection system, the transfer beam line sending the primary beams onto the target and the target-ion source unit. Also we will describe the planned high resolution isobar separator that should allow to perform either nuclear or astrophysical and material science experiments. This separator consists of a pre-separator and two main stages and should provide an overall mass resolving power up to m/Dm ≈ 20000.