The University of Jyväskylä (JYU) with its about 15000 students and 2500 employees ranks among the five largest universities in Finland. The Accelerator Laboratory is operated as a part of the Department of Physics (JYFL), the second largest department of the university (with 800 students, 150 employees). The Department of Physics has mechanical and electrical workshops that, in addition to the Accelerator Laboratory, serve also the rest of Department of Physics and faculty-based Nanoscience Center. The Accelerator Laboratory is acknowledged as a national expertise center of accelerators and ionizing radiation, as well as the Centre of Excellence of Academy of Finland since 2000.
The Accelerator Laboratory runs two cyclotrons, the K = 130 MeV heavy ion cyclotron and a new high intensity K=30 MeV cyclotron called MCC30/15. About 3000 hours of MCC30/15 beam time is intended to be devoted for research at the Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line (IGISOL) facility, located next to MCC30/15. IGISOL employs a chemically insensitive ion guide technique, capable of forming ions of any element, including the refractory ones. The IGISOL research group, consisting of about 15 researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, concentrates mainly on studies on exotic nuclei far from stability, their ground state properties and decay spectroscopy.
Particle induced fission is used to produce neutron rich isotopes; the fission process itself has been the subject of research. An integral part of the facility is a high mass resolving power Penning trap, called JYFLTRAP, which can be used to unambiguously identify the fission products by their mass. This allows determining the isotopic fission yield distributions for all elements. The method is successfully employed to charged particle induced fission. A neutron converter target to be built in the new laboratory makes it possible to induce fission with a simulated fast fission neutron field.
Relevant experience
JYU Accelerator Laboratory has long experience in determining fission yield distributions. The novel technique employing the Penning trap, developed at JYU, allows fast determination of the isotopic yield distributions. The Penning trap also allows production of ultra pure radioactive sources of rare neutron rich nuclei for research. With these unique facility the JYU Accelerator Laboratory contributes to WP8.
Role and main tasks
JYU provides access to IGISOL facility at MCC30/15 and supports experiments of external users by its measurement capabilities and the expertise of its staff members (WP5).
Scientific and technical personnel involved
- Dr. Heikki Penttilä: Docent and University researcher. PhD. in 1992 at the University of Jyväskylä. 25 years of experience on mass spectrometry, nuclear spectroscopy and fission research. Post doctoral appointee in Argonne National Laboratory (1992-1994); Senior Assistant at the Department of Environmental Sciences of the University of Jyväskylä (1994-1999) and later at the Department of Physics (1999-2002); Fellow of Finnish Academy (2002-2007); Head of Research University of Jyväskylä (2007-2009); and University researcher (2009-to date).
- Prof. Ari Jokinen: Professor at the University of Jyväskylä. Obtained his PhD. in 1994. He has 20 years of experience on nuclear spectroscopy and ion beam manipulation. CERN Fellow (1994-1996); Senior researcher at the University of Jyväskylä (1996-1999); Fellow of Finnish Academy (1999-2004); Senior researcher at the University of Jyväskylä (2004-2006); Lecturer (2006-2011) and Professor at the University of Jyväskylä (1.8.2011-to date).
- Dr. Iain D. Moore: University Lecturer. Obtained his PhD. in Nuclear Structure Physics (2001) at the University of Manchester, UK. Expert in laser-based techniques for nuclear physics, ion beam production and manipulation and mass spectrometry of exotic nuclei. Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Argonne National Laboratory (2001-2003); Researcher, University of Jyväskylä (2004-2006); Senior Researcher at the University of Jyväskylä (2006-2012); and University Lecturer (Tenure Track) at the University of Jyväskylä (2012-to date).
- Dr Sami Rinta-Antila: Post doctoral researcher at the University of Jyväskylä (2009-to date). Obtained his PhD. at the University of Jyväskylä in 2006. 13 years of experience in nuclear spectroscopy. Research Associate at the University of Liverpool (2007-2009).