A schematic figure showing the principle of acceleration of ions in Pelletron

Interchangeable Ion Sources

Ion accelerating tube

High Voltage Terminal

Sulphur Hexa Fluoride Gas

To Switching Magnet

Analyser Magnet

+ ve Ion

Equipotential Rings

Charge Stripper

Accelerator Tank

-ve Ion

Injector Magnet

Injector Deck

Pellet Chalns

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Inter University Accelerator Centre, an autonomous body under the University Grants commission, is an Institution which is playing an active and dynamic role as coordinator cum facilitator in accelerator based research in Indian Universities for the past two decades. Originally known as Nuclear Science Centre (renamed later as Inter University Accelerator Centre in June 2005), the first in the families of IUCs, it came up in 1984. Construction of the building started in 1986 and was completed in 1989. The commissioning of the Pelletron Accelerator started in August, 1989 and was completed by Dec, 1990. On Dec 19, 1990, it was dedicated to the nation by the minister of HRD and the first beam was delivered to the user community on July 8, 1991.

The objective of the Inter-University Accelerator Centre is to provide within the university system world class facilities for accelerator based research in focused areas of

several disciplines, e.g., Nuclear Physics, Materials Science, Atomic Physics and Radiation Biology. This IUC has the dual role i.e. to establish state-of-art accelerator system along with the experimental facilities and to create adequate infrastructure for enabling the university community to undertake internationally competitive research.

The main building at IUAC houses the Pelletron Tower, Beam Hall and the Laboratory complex. The 50 meter tall tower is made of heavy concrete for radiation shielding. The accelerator tank of 26.5 m height and 5.5 m diameter is filled with SF6 gas at a pressure of ~6-7 atmosphere for insulating the strong electric field. The 15 UD pelletron is a versatile, heavy ion tandem type of electrostatic accelerator. Accelerators are instrument to accelerate ions, as atoms being electrically neutral cannot be accelerated. In this machine, negative ions are produced and pre-accelerated to ~300KeV in Ion Source room at the top of the tower. The injector magnet chooses the desired mass of the ion beam and injects them into a strong electrical field inside an accelerator tank filled with SF6 insulating gas. At the centre of the tank is a terminal shell which is maintained at a high voltage (~15 MV). The negative ions on traversing through the accelerating tubes from the column top of the tank to the positive terminal get accelerated. Inside the terminal, the -ve ions are stripped of their electrons by passing through a thin carbon foil or Nitrogen gas which removes some electrons from the negative ions, thus transforming the negative ions into positive ones. These positive ions are then repelled away from the positively charged terminal and are accelerated to ground potential to the bottom of the tank. In this manner same terminal potential is used twice to accelerate the ions. On exiting from the tank, the ions are bent into horizontal plane by an analyzing magnet, and the emergent ion beam now contains ions of a definite mass and a definite energy. This accelerated beam from Pelletron is then switched to any one of the seven beam lines using the Switching Magnet. Dedicated experimental facilities are located in six of these beam lines for research in focused areas, with the “zero degree” beam line available for post-acceleration of the beam through the LINAC. The entire machine is computer controlled and is operated from the control room by dedicated operators.

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The research activities at the Centre can be grouped in the areas of Nuclear reactions near Coulomb barrier, High spin spectroscopy, Spectroscopy of highly charged ions, Interaction of swift heavy ions with materials, Materials characterization, Materials Modification, Device fabrication, Radiation Biology, Accelerator Mass spectroscopy etc. The experimental facilities at the centre were developed with active collaboration and participation from the user community. Initial funding for these facilities came from UGC. Other agencies like DST and BRNS have contributed significantly towards the funding of these facilities.

For Nuclear Physics the first one is Gamma Detector Array (GDA) which had been established in early 90’s as the largest facility for the study of gamma spectroscopy in the country, consisting of 12 Compton suppressed HPGe detectors setup which later was augmented by a recoil distance lifetime measuring equipment, a charge particle detector array and an electro-magnet for perturbed angular correlation measurement studies. This whole setup allows

experiments on complete spectroscopy, leading to detailed information on nuclear structure.

Heavy Ion Reaction Analyzer (HIRA) is one of few recoil mass spectrometers (RMS) in the world and first of its kind in Asia. HIRA is dedicated to the study of heavy ion induced nuclear reaction dynamics and can operate in the direction of primary beam. Efficient rejection of primary beam and transportation of reaction products to the focal plane with mass identification are the forte of HIRA. It is based on symmetric [electrostatic dipole]-[magnetic dipole]-[electrostatic dipole] (ED-MD-ED) configuration (first used in Rochester RMS design), with two quadrupole doublets placed before and after the first and last electrostatic dipoles. Space focus (in both dispersive and non-dispersive planes) and energy achromaticity are obtained at the focal plane with variable mass dispersion. The ion-optical parameters of ED-MD-ED combination of HIRA are unique and quite different from other existing recoil mass spectrometers.

General Purpose Scattering Chamber (GPSC) is the research facility installed at the 45o beam line in Beam Hall I of IUAC. It is a 1.5 m diameter scattering chamber equipped with rotating arms and in-vacuum target transfer system. This facility is being extensively used for both nuclear physics as well as materials science experiments (e.g. the studies of Heavy Ion Scattering and transfer reactions, Projectile Breakup and ion irradiation).

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The concept of a national facility for γ-spectroscopy took shape in early 2000 when a formal agreement between the various institutions was achieved for pooling the available resources. It was conceived that an Indian National Gamma Array (INGA) consisting of Compton-suppressed Clover detectors with nearly 4π coverage would be set up as a national facility. Three campaigns with a smaller number of Clover detectors were carried out in 2001, 2003 and 2005 at TIFR, IUAC and VECC, respectively, with existing infrastructure. Fabrication of the mechanical support structure at IUAC for holding 24 Clover detectors was taken up in early 2007. It was decided that the first campaign with the full INGA during 2007-2008 would take place at IUAC. Installation of the mechanical structure, cabling and electronic modules started by August 2007. The detectors and shields from all the collaborating institutions were received by January 2008. The first facility test to optimize the transport of beam at INGA beam line was carried out in February 2008. During March to June, 2008, the first cycle of experiments with the INGA facility was carried out. The second cycle has also been successfully carried out during Apr.-Oct.2009

With the availability of augmented accelerator facilities and demand for investigation in new fields, the need for improvement of recoil separators was felt. The new generation separators are capable of identifying recoiling particles from inverse kinematic reactions leading to complete A and Z identification and larger detection efficiency. IUAC, in its endeavour to further the investigations in the field of nuclear reaction dynamics and structure, is in the process of commissioning a state of the art recoil mass separator

in Beam Hall II, Hybrid Recoil Mass Analyzer (HYRA), which is planned to be a unique combination of recoil mass spectrometer (RMS) and gas-filled separator (GFS).

A large array of neutron detectors, named National Array of Neutron Detectors (NAND) is being developed as a nuclear physics experimental facility to use with the beam delivered by the booster LINAC at IUAC. The facility has modular structure and is planned to have about 100 organic liquid scintillators of 5” diameter and 5” thickness. At present, NAND consists of about thirty detectors which allow the measurement of energy and angular distribution of neutrons produced in the nucleus-nucleus collision. The detectors are pooled from different research laboratories in the country. Target chamber also has provision to put charged particle detectors like large area position sensitive multiwire proportional counters (MWPC) and silicon detectors to detect neutron emitting sources (heavy ions and fission fragments) and other associated light charged particles in coincidence with neutrons.

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Materials Science Facilities at IUAC provide a unique opportunity for studies in the field of ion induced materials engineering and characterization. There are two beamlines in the two beamhalls for irradiation studies with accelarated ions from Pelletron and Linac. The beamline in Pelletron beamhall includes two irradiation chambers with on-line ERDA, on-line QMA and ionoluminiscence facilities. Low flux irradiation facility for materials science is also available in another beamline. The beamline in Linac beamhall has two irradiation chambers with on-line ERDA and in-situ XRD facility. In-situ Raman facility is also installed. A XRD (Model D8 Advance) from Bruker AXS Germany installed in beamhall II consists of a 3 kW X-rays source with multi-layer mirror, thin film attachment, postion sensitive Vantage detector, a high speed position sensitive detector besides conventional NaI(Tl) scintillation counter. A Pfeiffer QMA 422 quadrupole mass analyzer system with SIMS option operating at 2.25MHz that can mass analyze in the range 1-1024 amu with mass separation (∆M/M) better than 0.01 is installed in materials science beamline. The QMS is attached to a 90° port of ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chamber. The probe consisting of 3 lens optics for detecting both positive and negative ions as well as neutral atoms is nearly 5 mm from the sample surface during the measurements. A large area position sensitive gaseous detector telescope, developed inhouse and installed in materials science beamline is used in on-line measurement of SHI induced compositional changes. The detector offers good Z resolution and can discriminate between the recoils of adjacent masses like C, N, O. InVia Raman microscope from Renishaw UK which allows high resolution confocal measurements has been installed and tested offline in the beam hall-II. The system consists of Ar ion laser with 514.5 nm wavelength and 50 mw power. The setup can also support multiple lasers, with automatic software switching of excitation wavelength. Exceptional sensitivity for ultra-low signal detection with minimum noise is possible with a compact thermoelectrically cooled RenCam CCD detector. The detector is sensitive from 100 to 3200 cm-1. The integration of the facility in the beamline for in-situ measurements is underway.

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Besides the above, the centre has many-offline characterization facilities including XRD, AFM/MFM/C-AFM, SEM, Raman, Photoluminescence setup, Transport / Noise measurement setup, Low temperature cryostat with 8T superconducting magnet, FTIR and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy setup. There are several materials synthesis facilities including RF Sputtering, ECR plasma based deposition (under progress),

e-beam evaporation, Resistive heating evaporation, Atom beam sputtering, Ball-milling, Tubular furnace and Box furnace etc. A Multi Mode SPM with Nanoscope IIIa controller from Digital/Veeco Instruments Inc. is extensively used in AFM, MFM, C-AFM, STM, STS and F-d modes. A field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM): MIRA II LMH from TESCAN, with a resolution of 1.5 nm at 30 kV has been installed. It has a secondary electron (SE) and a backscattered electron (BSE) detector for

imaging. An energy dispersive X ray detector INCA PentaFET3 with 133 keV resolution from OXFORD has also been installed in this system for elemental analysis.

The Atomic and Molecular physics programme at IUAC is based on the two accelerators: the Pelletron-Linac and the LEIBF. The atomic physics programme at the Pelletron-Linac has a dedicated beam line with facilities suitable for a wide range of experiments. The experiments address basic fundamental aspects of ion-atom interaction as well as processes of astrophysical and plasma interests and applications. Among the facilities are beam foil spectroscopy apparatus (both single and multi foil excitation are used) with X-ray and ion detectors. Of special note is the high resolution Doppler tuned spectrometer and the post collision charge state analyzer. At the LEIBF, the reaction microscope is used to study molecular dissociation dynamics by using a position sensitive time of flight setup. A deceleration set up has been developed for very low energy highly charged ions from an ECR source.

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Heavy Ion Radiation Biology is an interdisciplinary applied science involving Atomic Physics, Nuclear Physics, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. The current research in this field investigates the effects of energetic charged particles on the biological systems at the molecular level. In comparison to the sparsely ionizing photon or electron, the high velocity charged heavy ions leave a track of densely populated ionization sites resulting in clustered DNA damage. There are also many interesting phenomena involving the biochemical pathways. The growing interest in this field encompasses the studies in gene expression, mechanisms of cell death, DNA damage and repair, signal transduction etc. IUAC radiation biology programme is based on in-vitro studies of different effects of heavy ion irradiation on prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. The facility provides a laboratory for pre and post irradiation treatment of samples. The irradiation system called ASPIRE [Automatic Sample Positioning for Irradiation in Radiation Biology Experiments] is installed at the dedicated Radiation Biology Beam line. This is a computer controlled system that enables one to irradiate cells placed on 35 mm petri dishes kept in medium in a sterile condition one after another at quick succession with predetermined ion dose.

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is used to measure the very low concentration of trace elements. These trace elements generally are long lived radioisotopes and some times stable isotopes. Long lived radioisotopes serve as tracers and chronometers in many branches of science e.g. Geology, Archeology, Hydrology, Environmental Science, Biomedicine, Cosmo-Chemistry and Nuclear Physics etc. AMS is also used to determine stable isotopes at ultra trace levels in semiconductors,

geological samples and other materials. The IUAC AMS facilty comprises of Multi-cathode SNICS source, re-circulating gas stripper, offset Faraday cup, Wien Filter, AMS chamber, insertable Faraday cup, Gas Cell absorber and Multi-Anode Gas Ionization Chamber (MAGIC). The AMS facility for 10Be measurements is in operation and recently 26Al measurements from standard samples have also been added. A new chemistry laboratory for samples processing is being developed and in future, all the AMS users will be able to process their samples in this laboratory.

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Experimental ProgrammeNUCLEAR PHYSICS: The major emphasis in reaction dynamics studies has been

to explore the role of nuclear structure effects in the sub- and near barrier fusion process. Experiments have been carried out to isolate the target deformation effects and understand how they alter the observed spin distribution. The role of transfer channels in enhancing fusion cross section has been investigated both experimentally and theoretically. Measurement of precise fusion cross-sections has been conducted to obtain a reliable barrier distribution for heavy nuclei. A modified neutron flow model has been developed for understanding the fusion systematics in the barrier region.

For heavy nuclei, the dynamical effects of fission delay have been investigated through a measurement of the spin distribution of fusion evaporation residue. Data from GDR and particle emission have been used to investigate nuclear shapes and level densities at high spin.

For the study of nuclear spectroscopy, the emphasis has mainly been on the study of high spin structure of transitional nuclei and nuclei near shell closure. The systematics of high spin levels in nuclei in the mass region ~ 75, ~90, ~120, ~130 and ~ 160 have been carried out in the last few years to investigate the interplay of single particle, vibrational and rotational degrees of freedom and the co-existence of these structures. Measurement of quadrupole moments of several nuclei have been carried out using the DSAM, RDM and hyperfine interaction studies. The current emphasis is on complete nuclear spectroscopy using information from γ−γ, e-γ and life time measurements.

The nuclear physics programme touches almost all current thrust areas of nuclear structure and nuclear dynamics at energies around or slightly above the interaction barrier of the projectile-target systems. Regarding detector systems, the future availability of HYRA in combination with INGA would offer a worldclass competitive tool for exotic nuclear structure studies.

MATERIALS SCIENCE: Energetic ions play a vital role in materials science as they can produce systems away from thermodynamic equilibrium. The ions in different energy regimes, ranging from a few hundreds of eV to a few hundreds of MeV have different roles in materials. Broadly these energetic ions are useful in three different ways: (i) synthesis of materials (ii) modification of materials and (iii) characterization of materials.

Defect engineering in materials is of importance. The two parameters of ion beam, which play crucial role in defect engineering, are the ion mass and its energy, which decide the magnitudes of the electronic as well as nuclear energy losses. The other interesting aspect of Swift Heavy Ions is the characterization of materials by Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis. Production methods for new materials, modification of material properties mainly with the use of Swift Heavy Ions (SHI), and elemental analysis capability are available at the Centre, giving unique opportunities to material scientists.

There are various areas in which the research with SHI is undertaken. Broadly these are:

(i) Interface modifications / Ion Beam Mixing(ii) Electronic Sputtering and surface modifications(iii) Phase transformations(iv) Synthesis and modification of nano particles

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(v) Ion beam induced epitaxial crystallization (vi) Development of ion beam characterization tools and on-line measurements In future, nanotechnology will have wide-ranging applications in every-day life. In

nanotechnology, the study of the behaviour of matter (both solids and liquids, whether organic, inorganic, or biological) under heavy ion bombardment can play a significant role, whatever be the energy of the ion. These considerations point to two principal areas of research:

a) study of the basics of ion-matter interaction;b) making efficient use of ions for nanotechnology.To strengthen the research in these areas, specific programme are being created where

material science researchers in the fields of condensed matter, biology, nanotechnology, chemistry, ion-matter interaction, and related fields can work together.ATOMIC PHYSICS: Studies conducted in atomic physics with the Pelletron accelerator can be classified in two categories. These are (i) x-ray spectroscopy with highly ionized atoms and (ii) Ion atom collision. There is an on-going programme for study of lifetime of metastable highly charged ions which will be continued with augmented ion beams from the linac. With the installation of ECR ion source on a high voltage deck in the LEIBF, atomic physics studies have begun in the areas of dissociation of molecules and ion-droplet interactions.

Lifetime measurements of highly charges ions have been carried out using beam two-foil spectroscopy and a new Doppler tuned spectrometer is being fabricated for experiments with higher resolution.

Highly charged ions from the low energy ion beam facility are being utilised for ion - liquid droplet collisions and molecular dissociation. Position sensitive multi-hit time-of-flight measurement system is used to study the fragmentation dynamics of complete and incomplete fragmentation processes. The molecular dissociation studies on methanol under highly charged ions showed evidence for bond rearrangement and alignment resulting in formation of H3

+ ions.RADIATION BIOLOGY: Heavy Ion Radiation Biology and Radiation Chemistry is a research field which has been explored only in the past few years in India. In order to initiate such research among the Universities utilising the Pelletron, a dedicated beam line was designed and set up in 1993 with very primitive design for atmospheric pressure low flux irradiation. The irradiation system has now been overhauled to enable very precise dosage of irradiation as per international standards and facilities added for tissue culture and Fluorescence Microscopy following irradiation. Among the work done, the highlights are, High LET radiation induced studies carried out in both wild type and mutant mammalian cells, Observation of chromosome aberration, apoptosis and micronucleus formation as a function of particle dose and incubation time in mammalian cells due to high LET irradiation is done using fluorescence microscopy.INSTRUMENTATION: In-house capability in design and construction of control systems, data acquisition, and nuclear electronics has grown exponentially in the last few years, and has started to make a visible impact on high-tech industry. Some of the examples of the developments are: RF Sputtering and Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition set-up, for which the know-how has been transferred to industry and the Phoenix electronics kit for PC based experiments for graduate and undergraduate level. Patents have been applied for two electronics modules developed at the Centre.

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While the Phase-I of IUAC was to commission a large tandem accelerator (15UD Pelletron) to provide accelerated heavy ion beams over a wide mass region, the maximum energy of ions from the Pelletron (~200-250 MeV) limits the research program for various disciplines. A niobium based Superconducting Linear Accelerator (LINAC) was chosen as a booster accelerator and was planned in the early 90s for future augmentation (Phase II) of the energy of the ion beams from the Pelletron. The goal of the Phase-II of IUAC was to maximize the acceleration facilities upto a mass region of ~100 amu to obtain energies above the Coulomb barrier as demanded by the Physics requirements to remain in the forefront of research. LINAC being modular system has an advantage over other types of accelerators. LINAC employ short, independently phased radio frequency structures which are some variants of co-axial line cavity resonator e.g. a quarter wave resonator (QWR) or a half wave resonator (HWR). QWR geometry is characterised by excellent mechanical stability and broad velocity acceptance range. The superconducting Linac Programme of IUAC consists of 27 QWRs made from bulk Niobium. Superconducting structure has an advantage of achieving higher accelerating field gradients at much lower input power as compared to normal conducting structure.

For the superconducting LINAC project, Cryogenic technology plays an important role to keep the superconducting cavities at liquid helium temperature. The cryogenic network for LINAC is one of the very few large scale facilities in India. The cryogenic network consists of indigenously developed cryomodules, Helium refrigeration system of 600W (150L/hr.) refrigeration capacity at 4K and a close loop liquid nitrogen plant of 150L/hr. production capacity. There are three accelerating cryomodules which houses eight superconducting QWRs in each, and two other cryomodules are used for bunching/debunching of the accelerating beam. All cryomodules are integrated with the helium refrigeration plant and liquid nitrogen plant using the indigenously developed cryogenic distribution network. A VME based data acquisition and control system (CRYODACS) has been developed and integrated for LINAC cryogenic system.

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For gaining experience in the operation of high charge state positive ion sources, a unique Low Energy Ion Beam Facility (LEIBF) has also been developed at IUAC. For certain materials science experiments, we need energie in the range of tens of keV to a few MeV. With a fixed deck potential, we use high charge state ion beams to multiply the energy to get the desired higher energy. To gain more energy and current from ion source on a high voltage platform we need high charge states, which is possible with positive ion source e.g. electron cyclotron resonance ion source

(ECRIS). LEIBF provides multiply charged ion beams at a wide range of relatively lower energies (~50 keV to about 3 MeV) for experiments in Atomic, Molecular and material sciences. The facility consists of an Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) ion source installed on a high voltage deck (50-200 KV). All the electronic control devices of the ECR ion source including high power UHF transmitter (10 GHz), are placed on a high voltage platform. These are controlled through optical fiber communication in multiplexed mode.

In an effort to deliver higher beam currents, and higher charge states to the researchers, a High Current Injector (HCI) system is being developed for the superconducting LINAC. The availability of high currents and charge states will allow the researchers access to hitherto unavailable regions of experimental areas. The high currents allow reaction processes with very small cross sections to be probed while the larger charge states will allow higher particle energies to be injected into the superconducting LINAC. It will consist of a High Temperature superconducting magnet based ECR source (PKDELIS) that will produce large amounts of highly charged positive ions (compared to the ECR source used for Low energy ion beam). The desired level of accelerated energy here is similar or higher compared to that available in a tandem accelerator. The positive ions coming from the PKDELIS on a high voltage platform will then be accelerated by a series of room temperature accelerating structures (a radio frequency quadrupole accelerator (RFQ), and a set of drift tube linear accelerators (DTL’s) ) that will enable high currents of highly charged ion beams to be injected into the LINAC. The DTL has been designed to accelerate ions from 180 keV/u to 1.8 MeV/u, using six IH type RF resonators operating at 97 MHz. A low velocity cryomodule is also being developed for this injector.

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Other Programmes

IUAC conducts two semester Ph.D programme for research students and new scientist trainees of the Centre, which are open for all university students. Overwhelming response from different universities throughout the years shows the positive benefit of the programme to the community of students starting fresh research at different universities throughout the country. The programme consists of two semesters- one during January-May in which courses on Experimental Physics and Accelerator Physics are offered and the second one during August-December in which courses on Computers in instrumentation, data acquisition and Advanced course on Material sciences and Nuclear Physics are offered. Each course consists of five modules. Each module consists of 8 lectures of one and half hour duration. One course on Engineering Drawing is also offered as a part of Experimental Physics to give basic understanding of drawing. Some special lecture series on Nuclear Physics, Atomic Physics and Materials Science by eminent professors in the respective fields are also offered. One month before each semester a poster containing details of the course is printed and circulated to physics department of various universities and colleges inviting application for attending the courses. The programme is also put into our website. Students doing M.Phil/ Ph.D./ M.Tech and interested young faculty members from any University, College or research institute pursuing Ph.D programme may also attend these lectures for the course modules of their interest. Some financial assistance towards travel and accommodation is available for a limited number of cases. Interested persons may apply giving their bio data, research interest and a recommendation letter from guide/HOD, to the Ph.D Program Coordinator, IUAC (mandal@iuac.ernet.in).

M. Sc. Orientation programme is conducted by IUAC to encourage interested students to supplement their knowledge and to motivate them to continue their career in science. The two-week M. Sc. orientation programme provides hands-on training in fields associated with accelerator based research to selected M. Sc. students by way of short projects. Those M. Sc. students desirous of taking part in this programme may get their applications forwarded through their department giving the relevant details such as the marks in all the exams till date, broad field of interest and the period convenient to them. Efforts are made to give chance to students from various parts of the country. Interested students may mail to madhavan@iuac.ernet.in.

Acquaintance Programme of IUAC is another programme which is conducted in different parts of the country to make the local scientific community aware of the IUAC facilities. Participants comprising of faculty members, research scholars and students from the neighbouring colleges and institutions attend the programme. Possibilities of experimental research at IUAC in the fields of materials science, nuclear physics, atomic physics, radiobiology, AMS are discussed at length. The interaction with the IUAC resource persons helps create new potential users for the IUAC facilities. Interested University/College Personnel may contact IUAC (contact roy@iuac.ernet.in) for holding such programmes in their institution.

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IUAC has initiated following activities to help improve the Physics laboratory facilities in the universities: (a) A low cost Radiation detection and Analysis System has been developed which is useful to carrry out some of the Nuclear Physics expetiments at M.Sc level. This has been distributed to thirty universities after proper training on the instrument usage. (b) A simple and cost effective PC interface (called Phoenix ) has been designed which will encourage many computer aided experiments and data analysis. Phoenix allows one to develop science experiments by connecting sensor / control elements to a computer and access them through software. IUAC has organized several one-day workshops at various universities/ colleges demonstrating these innovative experiments. Those who are interested in information about training programs may join the mailing list by registering at the website www.iuac.res.in or contact ajith@iuac.ernet.in.

IUAC being an Inter-University Centre has its main user-base coming from the universities. In the early nineties it started with around 75 researchers from 50 Universities, Colleges and Institutes. Over a period of only eighteen years this user base has expanded to more than 300 faculty members from 81 universities and 58 colleges from the entire length and breadth of the country. In addition, there is participation from the 6 IITs and 50 other research institutions in the country. Selection of the experiments to be conducted using the Pelletron Accelerator is done by a national scientific body (Accelerator User Committee) which meets twice every year (in July and in December) to evaluate the projects defended by the potential users. Currently the maximum number of users are in the field of materials science (~ 65%), although the experiments on nuclear physics continue to get the maximum share of beam time (~ 60%). In order to expand the user base, acquaintance programs are periodically held at different places of India, in addition to workshops and schools conducted in focused areas of research.

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Beam Time Utilization: To avail of Pelletron Beam time, one must submit Beam time proposals (in prescribed formats: i.e BTR Forms) within the stipulated dates (May 31 for July AUC / November 10 for December AUC) to the AUC Convenor / Scientist Co-ordinator. If invited, they should present it before the Accelerator User Committee members during the AUC Meeting on July 6-7 or December 17-18. One can download Beam Time Request (BTR) forms (in PDF or doc Format) by clicking the following link: http://www.iuac.ernet.in/beamtime/index.html. The AUC evaluates the beamtime proposals / presentations in the AUC meetings on July 8 and December 19 of every year. Thereafter, beam time is scheduled by the Beam Time Scheduling Group of IUAC following the sanctioned list of experiments. Corresponding users are informed about their beamtime ahead of the schedule. One IUAC personnel (Local experimental contact person or LEC) is assigned to help the user during his experiment. User Presentation is arranged at the end of the experiment to get the user feedback.

UFR Projects: A similar procedure is being followed for funding User Facility for Research Projects (UFR) as for beamtime. A University project, if approved by AUC, gets standard funds for three years. Each year the corresponding funds are sent to the relevant University subject to submission of satisfactory academic report & audited utilization certificate of the project for the previous year. At the end of 3 years, a project completion report is required alongwith the financial expenditure status.

For any beamtime or UFR related queries, one may contact chopra@iuac.ernet.in, dsen@iuac.ernet.in, or academic@iuac.res.in.

Your plan What to submit How to defend in AUC meeting

If you are planning to get a beam time only, not funds

Submit BTR1* form Presentation by the Principal Investigator / any collaborator / student

If you are planning to get both beam time and funds (Applicable for University Users only)

Submit BTR3*** form which should be forwarded by your University Registrar

Presentation by the Principal Investigator / any collaborator (but not from IUAC) (student presentation not acceptable in case of sanction of funds)

If you are planning to get a subsequent run of an already availed run(s) of a sanctioned Project

Submit BTR4**** form with all detailed reports & copies of published papers related to the run already availed

Presentation is not required

For getting a complete Beam Time Account for a student

Submit BTR2** form with detailed Thesis Proposal

Presentation by the concerned student only (The guide may be present in the meeting)

*BTR-1 : Beam Time Request for Fresh Proposals **BTR-2 : Beam Time Account (BTA) for Ph.D Students from Universities/Teaching Institutions

***BTR-3 : Request of UFR Project (funding) and Beam Time ****BTR-4 : Beam Time Request for Ongoing Proposal

Hostel and Guest houses are available on the campus. Booking has to be done in advance for convenience and visit has to get approval before actual arrival. For accommodation booking, please mail to academic@iuac.res.in.

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User Growth of IUACIt has been a constant endeavor of IUAC since inception to expand the user base in

such a way that the scientific community from even the remotest corner of the country can participate in its programmes.

Why an Accelerator for Research?Question may arise what’s the need to use an accelerator. Basically, an accelerator takes a

particle, speeds it up using electromagnetic field, and bombards the particle into a target or other particles. Surrounding the collision point are detectors that record the many pieces of the event. Accelerators thus solve two problems for physicists. First, since all particles behave like waves, physicists use accelerators to increase a particle’s momentum, thus decreasing its wavelength enough that physicists can use it to probe inside atoms. The accelerator is today’s most powerful microscope. The resolving power is linked to the wavelength of the accelerated particles, which is equal to h/p , where h is Planck’s constant and p is the momentum (equal to mv) of the particle. This shows that the larger the momentum the smaller is the wavelength, which makes it possible to achieve the high resolution needed to explore the interior of matter. At high particle energies the interior of matter can be explored with a resolution that other probes like visible light cannot achieve. Also, the energy of speedy particles is used to create the massive particles that physicists want to study. With more powerful accelerators and higher collision energies more massive and sometimes new particles can be discovered and studied. Two nuclei can not come close because of repulsive Coulomb force between them. High velocity of nuclei means high energy of incident nuclei enabling it to overcome the repulsion and reach nearer to target nuclei so that nuclear reactions can occur. High Velocity Ions are deflected by atoms of target material and thus helps in Material Analysis i.e. to know the composition of material. The effects of accelerated charged particles on the biological systems at the molecular level also give us idea about the induced radiation effects of the ion beams. AMS or mass spectrometry using Accelerator is used to measure the very low concentration of trace elements. Long lived radioisotopes serve as tracers and chronometers in many branches of science e.g. Geology, Archeology, Hydrology, Environmental Science, Biomedicine, Cosmo-Chemistry and Nuclear Physics etc. AMS is also used to determine stable isotopes at ultra trace levels in semiconductors, geological samples and other materials.

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Historical dates of Events

DATES EVENT

JUNE 19, 1984 The Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, accepted and approved the concept of Inter University Centre

JULY 9, 1986 Foundation Work started

DEC. 11, 1986 Statutory Permission from DDA to start construction

SEPT. 30, 1988 The Centre was registered under the Societies Registration Act, XXI of 1860

DEC. 19, 1988 The Centre becomes autonomous

DEC. 19, 1990 The Pelletron commissioned and dedicated to the nation by minister of HRD

JULY 8, 1991 First Pelletron User Experiment performed

AUG. 1991 Gamma Detector Array (GDA) commissioned

DEC. 1991 Heavy ion Reaction Analyser (HIRA) operational

MARCH 1993 Materials Science Beam Line Commissioned

JUNE 1994 Radiation Biology Beam Line Commissioned

MARCH 1997 Cryogenic Plant Operational

DEC. 2001 Super Buncher Commissioned

FEB. 2002 Resonator Fabrication Facility Commissioned

SEPT. 24, 2004 Commissioning of 1st Module of LINAC

JAN 2005 Commissioning of High Temperature Superconducting ECR source

JUNE 2005 The Centre renamed as INTER-UNIVERSITY ACCELERA-TOR CENTRE

SEPT. 24, 2005 Inauguration of Materials Science and LEIB Building

DEC. 2005 Commissioning of NAND (neutron array facility) in Beam Hall II

AUG. 12, 2006 Inauguration of Engineering Building

FEB. 28, 2008 Commissioning of Indian National Gamma Array (INGA)

DEC. 2008 Commissioning of Hybrid Recoil mass Analyzer (HYRA) 1st phase

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Location of the Centre

The centre is situated 3.8 km from the old campus of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi) or the JNU old campus. The JNU old campus is opposite the Ber Sarai market and beside IIT-Delhi, the other nearby landmarks. The Centre is situated on the road going southwards from the JNU (old) campus. Starting from old JNU campus, the centre is after JNU east gate, National Institute of Immunology (NII), Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) and International Centre of Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (ICGEB). Southwards of the centre is VasantKunj. If someone arrives from the VasantKunj side, the centre is near sector B5/B6 of Vasant Kunj. Those arriving from the airport should take the Mahipalpur -Mehrauli road, and turn left onto Aruna Asaf Ali Marg at the D3 T-junction (Near Fortis Hospital). The centre is just ahead of the Kishengarh village on this road.

Inter-University Accelerator Centre, Post Box: 10502, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110067, INDIA

Phone: 91-11-26893955, 26892601, 26892603 ; FAX : 91-11-26893666 website: www.iuac.ernet.in

TheEarlyYearsOf

IUAC

Inter University Accelerator Centre was formerly known as Nuclear Science Centretill June 2005

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