Cave A Experimental Area

Cave A is a dedicated area for atomic physics experiments. It can be supplied both with high energy beams, directly from the heavy ions synchrotron SIS 18 and with decelerated beams from the ESR storage ring. Beams of hydrogen-like heavy ions decelerated down to 11 MeV/u and intensity of 10⁵ s^-1 are now available in the target area of the cave. A stripper mounted in the transfer line from SIS 18 toward Cave A offers the possibility to select different charge states for high energy ions coming directly from SIS.

A magnetic spectrometer for charge state analysis of the outgoing ions is installed behind the target area. It consists of two quadrupoles followed by a 14.5° dipole magnet with a magnetic rigidity of 10 Tm and permits a complete separation of U⁹²⁺, U⁹¹⁺, U⁹⁰⁺, etc. ions with energies up to 560 MeV/u.

Two different types of position sensitive particle detectors with a time resolution of few ns are available: a 32-Strip CVD-Diamond detector and a Micro-Channel-Plate detector with a delay line read-out. They serve as focal plane detectors for position dependent detection of the outgoing ions and can be alternatively mounted behind the spectrometer.

The target area in Cave A accepts different experimental set-ups which can be mounted in front of the spectrometer typically within one week.

back