The National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL), located on the campus of

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

was a rare isotope research facility in the United States.Bruns, Adam (January 2009
How Are You Helping Companies Grow?
''Site Selection Magazine''.Retrieved on December 27, 2009. Established in 1963, the

cyclotron A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. Lawrence, Ernest O. ''Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions'', filed: Januar ...

laboratory has been succeeded by the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, a

linear accelerator A linear particle accelerator (often shortened to linac) is a type of particle accelerator that accelerates charged subatomic particles or ions to a high speed by subjecting them to a series of oscillating electric potentials along a linear ...

providing beam to the same detector halls. NSCL was the nation's largest nuclear science facility on a university campus.The National Science Foundation (NSF)
4/10/2007 Funded primarily by the National Science Foundation and MSU, the NSCL operated two superconducting cyclotrons. The lab's scientists investigated the properties of rare isotopes and nuclear reactions. In nature, these reactions would take place in

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

s and exploding stellar environments such as novae and

supernovae A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion. The original ob ...

. The K1200 cyclotron was the highest-energy continuous beam accelerator in the world (as compared to synchrotrons such as the

Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It was built by the CERN, European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008, in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists, ...

which provide beam in "cycles"). The laboratory's primary goal was to understand the properties of

atomic nuclei The atomic nucleus is the small, dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom, discovered in 1911 by Ernest Rutherford at the University of Manchester based on the 1909 Geiger–Marsden gold foil experiment. Aft ...

. Atomic nuclei are ten thousand times smaller than the atoms they reside in, but they contain nearly all the atom's mass (more than 99.9 percent). Most of the atomic nuclei found on earth are stable, but there are many unstable and rare isotopes that exist in the universe, sometimes only for a fleeting moment in conditions of high pressure or temperature. The NSCL made and studied atomic nuclei that could not be found on earth. Rare isotope research is essential for understanding how the elements—and ultimately the universe—were formed. The nuclear physics graduate program at MSU was ranked best in America by the 2018 Best Grad Schools index published by ''U.S. News & World Report''.

Laboratory upgrades

The upgrade plans are in close alignment with a report issued December 2006 by the National Academies, "Scientific Opportunities with a Rare-Isotope Facility in the United States", which defines a scientific agenda for a U.S.-based rare-isotope facility and addresses the need for such a facility in context of international efforts in this area. NSCL is working towards a significant capability upgrade that will keep the laboratory – and nuclear science – at the cutting edge well into the 21st century. The upgrade of NSCL – the $750 million Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), under construction as of 2020 – will boost intensities and varieties of rare isotope beams produced at MSU by replacing the K500 and K1200 cyclotrons with a powerful linear accelerator to be built beneath the ground. Such beams will allow researchers and students to continue to address a host of questions at the intellectual frontier of nuclear science: How does the behavior of novel and short-lived nuclei differ from more stable nuclei? What is the nature of nuclear processes in explosive stellar environments? What is the structure of hot nuclear matter at abnormal densities? MSU Cyclotron

Beyond basic research, FRIB may lead to cross-disciplinary benefits. Experiments there will help astronomers better interpret data from ground- and space-based observatories. Scientists at the Isotope Science Facility will contribute to research on self-organization and complexity arising from elementary interactions, a topic relevant to the life sciences and quantum computing. Additionally, the facility's capabilities may lead to advances in fields as diverse as biomedicine, materials science, national and international security, and nuclear energy.

Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics

The Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA) is a collaboration between Michigan State University, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Chicago to address a broad range of experimental, theoretical, and observational questions in nuclear astrophysics. A portion of the Michigan State collaboration is housed at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, directly involving roughly 30 nuclear physicists and astrophysicists.

References

External links

Isotope Science Facility at Michigan State University

A report by the National Academies
"Nuclear science hits new frontiers"
A commentary by NSCL Director C. Konrad Gelbke in the December 2006 CERN Courier

''MSU News Bulletin'', Oct. 26, 2006
The Spartan Podcast – Arden L. Bement, Jr.
An audio interview with NSF Director Arden L. Bement Jr. who visited MSU Oct. 26, 2006 to award NSCL more than $100 million to fund operations through 2011, highlighting the lab's status as a world-leading nuclear science facility

{{Coord, 42.724498, N, 84.473716, W, display=title Michigan State University Michigan State University campus Nuclear research institutes Research institutes in Michigan

Laboratory upgrades

Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics

See also

References

External links