During the first three years since May 2022, FRIB has been operating safely meeting expectations of both scientific and industrial users with high machine availability, while ramping up the beam power to 20 kW for heavy ions including uranium. The paper summarizes the operational experience and challenges, accelerator improvement projects, expansions in user stations, accelerator R&D and workforce growth programs, and preparation for facility upgrades.

GANIL provides stable beam accelerator installations with the cyclotron facility and the SPIRAL2-LINAC facility, both coupled with access to production of radioactive ion beams in the various low and high-energy experimental areas. The SPIRAL2SC-LINAC were initially designed for production of radioactive beams for experimental physics research. The project will complete the construction, adding several target stations, for production of fission fragments as well as Multi-Nucleon Transfer or fusion evaporation reactions. The ongoing project also study an additional electron driver (40 MeV electrons) to avoid any bottleneck issues in stable beam availability. The exotic beams produced are then to be transported to any of GANIL's experimental areas, spanning from low energy areas (30-60 keV) to high energies areas (5-10 MeV/u) or (50-70 MeV/u) by the addition of a new postaccelerator. GANIL will then offer a complete range of stable and exotic beams for the different research opportunities in a large variety of intensity and energies to communities for fundamental research as well as applied and industrial research.

HIAF (High Intensity heavy ion Accelerator Facility) is a new large-scale facility for nuclear physics research in China. HIAF consists of a superconducting linac, a high-energy synchrotron booster, a high-energy radioactive isotope beam line, an experimental storage ring, and a few experimental setups. Able to produce unprecedented intense ion beams from hydrogen to uranium, HIAF will also promote heavy-ion applications in medicine, life science, space science, and material science. The HIAF project began in December 2018 and is proceeding on schedule. After extensive R&D work in the past several years, we achieved a major breakthrough in fast cycle acceleration through innovative technologies. Civil engineering and infrastructure were completed in Jun 2024, and most of the mass production and fabrication have been completed. We are currently installing equipment in phases. The ion source SECR will provide first beam in Aug 2024. The low energy CW ion beam of iLinac and the high energy pulsed ion beam from BRing are expected at the end of 2024. The Day One Experiment in SRing will be at the end of 2025. The progress and present status of the project will be given in the presentation.

The RAON (Rare isotope Accelerator complex for ON-Line experiments) is a rare isotope accelerator facility in Korea focused on fundamental science research by generating and accelerating RIBs (Rare Isotope Beams). Recently, a low-energy linear accelerator, comprising an injector system and a superconducting linear accelerator, was successfully commissioned. Additionally, RIBs produced by the ISOL (Isotope Separator On-Line) system were successfully reaccelerated using this low-energy linear accelerator. This presentation will provide an update on the operation status of the RAON facility, including the beam commissioning results of the low-energy linac.

SPES (Selective Production of Exotic Species) is the INFN (Istituto Nazionale Fisica Nucleare) facility to produce and post-accelerate exotic nuclei for forefront research in nuclear physics and to produce radioiso-topes for medical applications. The primary proton beam, extracted by a commercial cyclotron, irradiates targets like SiC, TiC or UCx where the ISOL (Isotope Separation On Line) technique is used to produce and extract exotic nuclei. Those are ionized, selected and either transported to low energy experiments or cooled with an RFQ (Radio-Frequency Quadrupole) cooler, purified from isobars contaminants through a HRMS (High-Resolution Mass Separator), sent to a CB (Charge Breeder), to increase charge state, injected into a RFQ accelerator and accelerated into ALPI (Acceleratore Lineare Per Ioni) superconducting Linac to finally reach experimental stations. The primary beamline has been fully commissioned, first radioactive beams have been produced and transported to low energy experiments, while the post-accelerator is under installation. A description of the entire facility as well as its commissioning status is given.

nuCARIBU will fundamentally change the way neutron-rich, heavy (A>100) radioactive ion beams (RIB) are created at ATLAS. Protons from a 6 MeV, 0.5 mA cyclotron will bombard a 7Li target to generate neutrons via the p-7Li reaction. These neutrons will be thermalized in a moderator and then captured in an actinide foil, e.g. 235U. Heavy fission fragments resulting from the neutron capture reactions will be formed into ion beams in an existing gas catcher and separator system. This new production mechanism will replace the current source of radioactive ions, a thin plating of spontaneously fissioning 252Cf. nuCARIBU is expected to increase the overall intensity of n-rich ions, and improve the consistency and reliability of RIB at ATLAS. The cyclotron has demonstrated full beam production, and the results of initial proton extraction tests agree well with simulations. This paper will present the results of the cyclotron commissioning, neutron production, and initial radioactive beam production.

Platforms are of great importance in the Laboratoire de Physique des 2 infinis Irène Joliot-Curie (IJCLab) at Orsay, whether they are scientific or technological in nature. A set of platforms is present in IJCLab, offering a large range of techniques with a high level of expertise. They support the scientific axes around the physics of the two infinities, and they have a national and international impact in many scientific communities. Radioactive Ion Beams (RIBs) are currently produced in the ALTO (Accélérateur Linéaire et Tandem à Orsay) research platform. Two accelerators are in operation at ALTO (alto.ijclab.in2p3.fr). The first is a 15 MV Tandem accelerator which produces a wide range of heavy ion beams, from proton up to gold. ALTO is able to provide high-flux naturally directional neutron beams with the LICORNE neutron converter in inverse kinematics. The second machine is a linear accelerator (Linac) for electrons up to 50 MeV 10 µA that bombard a uranium carbide target as a driver to produce neutron-rich radioactive beams via the photo-fission process. With the delivery of a broad range stable and radioactive beams, its 10 beam lines and experimental halls equipped with diverse instrumentation, spectrometers and detectors, a wide-ranging research is available at ALTO from the study of the fundamental properties of nuclei, key processes for nuclear astrophysics, interaction of ions with matter to the developments in dosimetry and radiobiology. Several projects carried out at ALTO, such as the laser spectroscopy, ion trapping will be pursued at GANIL in the future low energy experimental hall DESIR. An additional RIBs production, based on photo-fission, is under discussion for a potential application of the PERLE (Powerful Energy Recovery Linac for Experiments) project developed at IJCLAB. The goal of this application is to perform electron scattering off beta-unstable nuclei. A general overview of ALTO, a status of the current development on the RIBs production and some of the latest results and on-going research program will be presented.

The linear accelerator of the SPIRAL2 facility at GANIL delivers both light ions to study nuclear reactions with neutrons in the Neutron for Science (NFS) experimental hall, and heavier ions to produce exotic nuclei, like heavy and super heavy nuclei, in the Super Separator Spectrometer (S3). By combining electromagnetic components and thanks to their very large aperture, S3 is a powerful tool to purify most of the elements of interest produced in the target from the primary intense ion beam, and retrieving them up to the focal plane to analyse them. The search for very rare events in nuclear reactions requires advanced technics that are not standard in our laboratories, which in S3 are fulfilled by the 7 iron-free superconducting multipoles triplets, the large gap of the electric dipole, the high performance movable beam dump and the fully instrumented target station. This presentation will introduce the advanced beam optic scheme, cover the current challenges encountered in qualifying the S3 spectrometer's main components, and more generally give an overview of the on-going commissioning of this new scientific facility at GANIL.

CERN-ISOLDE is a research facility for the production of radioactive ion beams, delivering more than 1000 isotopes of over 74 elements for experiments in a wide range of research fields. Radioactive nuclei are generated by proton-induced reactions in a target and ion source unit, then ionized and extracted as radioactive ion beams. For the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the beams as well as for target development a fast tape station (FTS) is used for decay spectroscopy of short-lived isotopes. Since the FTS is located in the central beam line, it is not possible for users to use the beam during these measurements, thus being competitive to the experiments. To fulfill the high demand for new beams, higher beam purity and intensity, and more resistant targets, beam and target development is necessary. To facilitate simultaneous operation and development, a second and improved FTS in currently being commissioned. Installed in a dedicated beam line, it will be connected directly to one target station, enabling beam and target development without affecting operation in the central beam line and allowing beam delivery to experiments scheduled at the other target station.

The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) enables groundbreaking research in nuclear physics, astrophysics, and fundamental interactions, as well as the societal applications of this work. Critical to the science program at FRIB is the Advanced Rare Isotope Separator (ARIS), which separates, identifies, and purifies fragments produced via projectile fragmentation and fission using a variety of beamline elements, including eight superconducting dipole magnets. An accurate magnetic rigidity calibration of these dipole magnets is crucial for obtaining peak fragment yields with optimal transport conditions in minimal time and comparing to simulations. This work reports on the use of the FRIB linear accelerator to provide charge states of a U-238 beam of known energies, with accuracy of 0.1%, to calibrate the ARIS dipole field versus effective bend radius over a range of magnetic rigidities. Due to saturation of the iron in the dipoles, the effective radius varies significantly, especially above about 1.2 T. Details of the procedure and results will be presented.

In 2018, the Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS) expanded its ability to produce and select radioactive in-flight beams through transfer reactions with the addition of a magnetic chicane for beam momentum selection referred to as the Radioactive Ion Separator or RAISOR. The ATLAS in-flight system consists of a production target positioned immediately upstream of RAISOR, followed by an RF sweeper to further refine beam purity. In this contribution, we present our experience operating the ATLAS in-flight system, operational and facility improvements, current limitations, and upgrade plans.

The “Super Separator Spectrometer” project S3 is under technical commissioning at the GANIL facility (Caen-France). It is a new research installation designed for fundamental physics experiments with high intensity radioactive heavy ions beams produced by the SPIRAL2 linear accelerator. This spectrometer will open new horizons for nuclear physics. The S3 spectrometer is made of seven Superconducting Multipole Triplets (SMT) to guide and focalize the beam and select the particles of interest. This paper presents SMTs technology and their magnetic, electrical and cryogenic operating characteristics as well as their technical commissioning for the S3 project.

For over 40 years, the GANIL facility has been supplying stable beams (carbon to uranium, 60 keV/A to 95 MeV/A) from a set of 4 cyclotrons and producing low- and high-energy radioactive ion beams for fundamental, applied and industrial research. Since 2010, due to the SPIRAL2 construction and compliance projects following the first obligatory safety review since the French safety decree, the cyclotrons maintenance and refurbishment were reduced to a bare minimum, and as a consequence the failure rate increased over the years. The outlined exceptional scientific program from the users at the facility is requesting GANIL to guarantee the operation over the next 20 years or more. Therefore an ambitious renovation program, the CYREN (Cyclotrons Renovation) project, was launched in 2024. This article will cover the progress of this project. Detailing the challenges, partly due to the diversity of the different installations with theirs unique equipment’s. The project covers everything from the 5 cyclotrons, beam lines, the associated experimental caves, building infrastructures, technical utilities and the safety, security and radiation protection systems.

The production of radioactive beams is crucial to understand structure of atomic nuclei away from stability. The operation of FRIB will ultimately provide access to previously unreachable unstable nuclei. Radioactive beams produced at FRIB can be selected and purified using the Advanced Rare Isotope Separator (ARIS) for further study by users. Ions are identified based on the energy loss, magnetic rigidity, gamma rays, time of flight, total energy in a suite of detectors. The transport of cocktail beams to the end of ARIS can impact the path length and the measured flight time. This can lead to uncertainty in the particle identification and worse timing resolution can occur if not corrected for. Characterizing the ion optics with position-sensitive detectors allows for corrections to the flight path of the ions. This in conjunction with the use of transfer matrices allows for the particle’s trajectory to be reconstructed and thus correct for the variation in the measured time of flight. These corrections are crucial for enhancing charge-state identification, especially in a high-resolution optics mode. The impact of applying a trajectory reconstruction method will be presented.

The ReAccelerator at FRIB successfully ran its first stand-alone beam in May 2021. Several technical upgrades were implemented to expand its scientific capabilities, including a new BMIS source, a room-temperature rebuncher, and the ReA6 accelerator with its corresponding experimental vault. Following the successful commissioning of these upgrades, over 25 beams were delivered to experiments, including six long-lived rare isotopes: Be-7, Be-10, Al-26, Si-32, Ni-56, and As-73. However, isobaric contamination posed challenges for beam delivery, requiring various strategies to improve beam purity. In this contribution, we outline the key steps that led to the success of the stand-alone program, including a description of the upgrades, approaches and results to mitigating isobaric contamination, and planned future improvements.