The Universal Linear Accelerator (UNILAC) is a

heavy ion High-energy nuclear physics studies the behavior of nuclear matter in energy regimes typical of high-energy physics. The primary focus of this field is the study of heavy-ion collisions, as compared to lighter atoms in other particle accelerato ...

linac A linear particle accelerator (often shortened to linac) is a type of particle accelerator that accelerates charged subatomic particles or ions to a high speed by subjecting them to a series of oscillating electric potentials along a linear beam ...

based at the

GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research The GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research (german: GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung) is a federally and state co-funded heavy ion () research center in the Wixhausen suburb of Darmstadt, Germany. It was founded in 1969 as the ...

near

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It can provide beams of accelerated

ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conven ...

s of elements from

hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, an ...

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

with energies of 2 to 11.4

MeV In physics, an electronvolt (symbol eV, also written electron-volt and electron volt) is the measure of an amount of kinetic energy gained by a single electron accelerating from rest through an Voltage, electric potential difference of one volt i ...

/ u. The main branch consists of two ion source terminals followed by a

Radio Frequency Quadrupole A radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ) is a linear accelerator component generally used at low beam energies, roughly 2keV to 3MeV. It is similar in layout to a quadrupole mass analyser but its purpose is to accelerate a single-species beam (a beam o ...

and by an Interdigital linac

IH linac accelerator IH may refer to: In science and technology In medicine * Immune-histochemistry * intrauterine hypoxia * Hepatitis A (infectious hepatitis) * Idiopathic hypersomnia * Intracranial hypertension Other uses in science and technology * Hydrogen iodid ...

resonating at 36 MHz up to the energy of 1.4 MeV/u. The main part then is operated by a classical

of the Alvarez type which resonates at 108 MHz. Final energy adjustment can be performed in the last section consisting of a series of single-gap resonators. This solution was proposed for maximum flexibility in beam energy. The UNILAC is used both to send beams of heavy ions to experiments and to load the

SIS18 The GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research (german: GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung) is a federally and state co-funded heavy ion () research center in the Wixhausen suburb of Darmstadt, Germany. It was founded in 1969 as th ...

Heavy-Ion Synchrotron (Schwer-Ionen-Synchrotron) with high-energy ions. Collisions between heavy-ion beams and stationary targets can be made to generate superheavy

transactinide elements Superheavy elements, also known as transactinide elements, transactinides, or super-heavy elements, are the chemical elements with atomic number greater than 103. The superheavy elements are those beyond the actinides in the periodic table; the ...

. Experiments using beams from UNILAC in the past 20 years have produced elements 107 to

112 112 may refer to: *112 (number), the natural number following 111 and preceding 113 *112 (band), an American R&B quartet from Atlanta, Georgia **112 (album), ''112'' (album), album from the band of the same name *112 (emergency telephone number), t ...

References

Darmstadt Particle accelerators {{Accelerator-stub

See also

References