Nuclear structure and reaction studies at SPIRAL

TL;DR

This paper reviews the SPIRAL facility's capabilities, research achievements, and future plans in nuclear physics, focusing on exotic nuclear states, magic numbers, and astrophysical processes using re-accelerated ion beams.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of SPIRAL's experimental results and instrumentation, highlighting advancements in understanding exotic nuclear phenomena and outlining future developments towards SPIRAL2.

Findings

Discovery of new exotic nuclear states

Insights into the evolution of magic numbers

Characterization of nuclear continuum and astrophysical pathways

Abstract

The SPIRAL facility at GANIL, operational since 2001, is described briefly. The diverse physics program using the re-accelerated (1.2 to 25 MeV/u) beams ranging from He to Kr and the instrumentation specially developed for their exploitation are presented. Results of these studies, using both direct and compound processes, addressing various questions related to the existence of exotic states of nuclear matter, evolution of new "magic numbers", tunnelling of exotic nuclei, neutron correlations, exotic pathways in astrophysical sites and characterization of the continuum are discussed. The future prospects for the facility and the path towards SPIRAL2, a next generation ISOL facility, are also briefly presented.