NSCL–Ongoing activities and future perspectives

Michigan State University’s NSCL (National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory) is funded by the US National Science Foundation to operate the premier rare isotope user facility in the US. Beams of rare isotopes at NSCL are produced via projectile fragmentation or fission and separated in-flight. The current NSCL facility capabilities and main research directions will be outlined. The laboratory is currently expanding its capabilities by building an efficient gas-stopping and reacceleration capability initially up to 3.2 MeV per nucleon. For the longer term future, NSCL is proposing to replace the existing superconducting cyclotrons with a high-intensity, 200 MeV per nucleon superconducting heavy-ion linac.