Precision work in the tunnel – Target chamber of the Super-FRS installed
06.07.2026 |
FAIR has reached another milestone: The target chamber for the superconducting fragment separator (Super-FRS) was successfully placed in its final location within the FAIR construction site and is thus the first installed component of the Super-FRS target area.
The target chamber had already been transported to the construction site for temporary storage several months ago. With the help of the crane in the target hall, the chamber was now hoisted into its final position and installed. The building is sufficiently complete to allow for this step to be taken.
Only a precisely and very tightly dimensioned installation space is available at the 24-ton chambers’ destination in the Super-FRS building, so that it had to be lowered with millimeter precision. The chamber contains highly sensitive vacuum components and research instruments, which is why the hoisting had to be carried out with the utmost care and precision.
The target chamber is an essential component of the Super-FRS. Here, the ion beam from the accelerators strikes a target at high speed, breaking into nuclear fragments in the collision. Afterwards inside the Super-FRS, the exotic nuclei requested by the experimenters are separated from the multitude of different fragments, identified, and made available as a so-called secondary ion beam.
The installation of the target chamber is an important milestone for the Super-FRS, as it marks the start of the installation of the entire target area and represents the first step toward the “First Vacuum” in the Super-FRS. Already in May, the GLAD vacuum chamber—the first major component of the NUSTAR experiment setup—was delivered to the NUSTAR experiment cave. (CP/AD)
