LENA Accelerator Upgrade
The Laboratory for Experimental Nuclear Astrophysics (LENA) is a world-class center for experimental and research on nuclear reactions and their importance in the evolution of stars and the origin of the elements. The Electron-Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) accelerator already produces the world’s most intense proton beams for low-energy measurements and is being upgraded to increase beam intensity. In late 2020-early 2021, the ECR accelerator will be joined by a 2-MV Singletron accelerator, a state-of-the-art machine, designed and constructed (by High Voltage Engineering Europa) specifically for LENA. Current research topics include abundance anomalies in globular clusters and the evolution of the early galaxy, the production of the elements heavier than iron, the evolution of stars more massive than the sun and radioactive aluminum in the galaxy and in the early solar system.
The Project Team: TUNL Faculty: Art Champagne, Christian Iliadis, Robert Janssens, Richard Longland