Degrader foils for the CARIBU project

The Californium Rare Ion Breeder Upgrade (CARIBU) project was conceived to provide neutron rich beams originating from the 3% fission decay branch of a 252Cf source to be accelerated by the Argonne Tandem Linear Accelerator System (ATLAS). This 1Ci 252Cf source will be housed in a movable shielded cask, from which it can be directly transferred into a large helium gas stopper cell. Within the gas stopper, the CARIBU 252Cf source is positioned behind an aluminum degrader foil where the radioactive recoils of interest lose most of their energy before being stopped in the helium gas. To stop recoils over the full fission mass range effectively, three degraders of increasing thickness are required, one to cover the light fission peak and two for the isotopes in the heavy fission peak. The geometry of the source within the gas cell would ideally require a hemispherically shaped degrader foil for uniform energy loss of the fission products. The fabrication of a thin foil of such a shape proved to be exceedingly difficult and, therefore, a compromise “top hat” arrangement was designed. In addition, the ultra-high vacuum (UHV) environment necessary for the gas cell to function properly prevented the use of any epoxy due to vacuum outgassing. Handling, assembling of the foils and mounting must be done under clean room conditions. Details of early attempts at producing these foils as well as handling and mounting will be discussed.