Radioactive ion beams at ISOLDE/CERN recent developments and perspectives

Since the move of ISOLDE from CERN’s synchrocyclotron (SC) to the Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB) in 1992 extensive work has been devoted to the development of new beams, i.e. the production of new isotopes, beams of higher intensity and the ionization of further elements. Most of these developments were driven by the particular needs of the physics community proposing new experiments. The main achievements were the adaption of liquid metal targets to the pulsed proton beam to prevent shockwaves and splashing inside the target container and systematic studies on the time structure of the release of the isotopes from the target. Furthermore the work on laser ion-sources already started at ISOLDE-2 was continued, the so-called RIST target was developed, and most recently first tests on the isotope production while increasing the proton energy from 1 GeV to 1.4 GeV were done. The latter topics are discussed in this paper.