A Second Generation Radioactive Nuclear Beam Facility at CERN

The proposed Superconducting Proton Linac (SPL) at CERN would be an ideal driver for a proton-driven second-generation Radioactive Nuclear Beam facility. We propose to investigate the feasibility of constructing such a facility at CERN close to the present PS Booster ISOLDE facility. The existing ISOLDE facility would be fed with a 10 micro-amps proton beam from SPL, providing the physics community with a low-intensity experimental area. A second, new facility would be built with target stations deep underground, permitting proton beam intensities of more than 100 micro-amps. The secondary beams can be post-accelerated to 20-100 MeV/u and there will be a storage ring complex and large segmented detectors in the experimental area. Also, benefits from a muon-ion collider or from merging the ions and muons should be investigated. Since the antiproton decelerator would be nearby, the opportunities for antiprotonic radioactive atom studies should be pursued as well.