Carbon Stripper Foil for the Next Generation Rare Isotope Beam Facility

The Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA) will be a key tool for nuclear science that promises to change the way we view and describe the nucleus. In the RIA, a charge stripper foil will be an essential device. These foils will increase the variety of acceleration schemes and decrease accelerator construction cost. What is needed is a large-area carbon stripper foil that has a uniform mass density of 0.5 mg/cm2, is mechanically robust, has good electrical and thermal conductivity, and is inexpensive to produce. This project will develop a foil that is a composite material of carbon nanotubes (CNT) and amorphous carbon (a-C). The approach is to utilize a coating process that will provide a robust carbon film of uniform mass density of 0.5 mg/cm2 that can be scaled to large area at low cost. Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee Improved stripper foils will enable the Rare Isotope Accelerator to fulfill its promise of providing advances in advanced materials, medicine (new radioisotopes from targeted treatment and functional diagnosis), the environment (better nuclear reactor designs), and national security (nuclear weapon stockpile security).