ANSTO's research capabilities, led by the OPAL nuclear research reactor and associated instruments provide access to users investigating areas as diverse as materials, life sciences, climate change and mining/engineering.
Centre for Accelerator Science
Shortcuts:
ANSTO's new Centre for Accelerator Science will expand opportunities for the organisation and its partners.
Accelerators have a vast array of applications and can be used for the A to Z (archaeology to zoology) of science.
The potential to increase the use of accelerators in a range of scientific pursuits was recently identified by the Australian Federal Government in the 2009/10 Budget when it allocated $A25 million to establish a new Centre for Accelerator Science at ANSTO.
The primary aim of centre will be to provide world-leading accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and ion beam analysis (IBA) facilities.
An advisory group, with key national and international representation, has been formed to contribute to the process of designing the new centre. Detailed building plans are now complete, both for the accelerators and for extensive new chemistry laboratories for AMS and mass spectrometry facilities. Refer to some of the illustrations below.
As part of the funding arrangement, two new accelerators will be commissioned at ANSTO over the next four years:
- A new, 1MV low energy multi-isotope accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) accelerator; and
- A new 6MV medium-energy tandem accelerator, which will cater for a wide range of applications.
Orders for those accelerators have now been placed with National Electrostatics Corporation, USA, which will be housed in a new building adjacent to the existing ANTARES accelerator.
The 1MV AMS System
The 1MV AMS accelerator system is designed with the capability to perform high efficiency, high precision AMS analysis across the full mass range.
Large beam-optical acceptance will ensure high quality and high throughput radiocarbon measurements. High mass resolution analyzers, at low and high energy, coupled to a novel fast isotope switching system, will enable high quality analysis of actinide radioisotopes.
It will be custom built to our specifications taking into account recent overseas developments and allowing for future development possibilities including a second ion source.
The 1MV instrument layout is shown below.
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| Fig 1. The IMV Instrument Design is featured above. |
The 6MV Tandem
The 6MV tandem accelerator will be instrumented with a wide range of AMS, IBA and ion irradiation facilities. The three ion sources include hydrogen and helium sources, and a MC-SNICS sputter source for solid materials.
The AMS facility has end stations for:
- A gas-absorber detector for 10Be analysis,
- A time-of-flight detector,
- A gas-filled magnet and
- A general use ionization detector suited to 36Cl and other analyses.
The IBA facility has end stations for:
- A confocal microprobe,
- Elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA),
- Nuclear reaction analysis (NRA) and
- High energy heavy ion implantation.
The 6MV tandem layout (shown below) allows for future expansion, including the possibility of porting the beam to the existing ANTARES beam hall for simultaneous irradiation experiments.
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| Fig 2. The 6MV Instrument Design |
Key contact:
Mike Hotchkis
ANSTO Institute for Environmental Research
Phone: +61 2 9717 3148
Email: Michael.hotchkis@ansto.gov.au