Research programs and plans at the soreq applied research accelerator facility - SARAF

The Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility (SARAF) is under construction at the Soreq Nuclear Research Center, Yavne, Israel. When completed at the beginning of the next decade, SARAF will be a user facility based on a 40 MeV, 5 mA CW proton/deuteron superconducting linear accelerator. Phase I of SARAF (4 MeV, 2 mA CW protons, 5 MeV 1 mA pulsed deuterons) is already in operation. By use of a novel liquid lithium jet target (LiLiT), we generated up to 5×10¹⁰ epithermal neutrons/sec, mainly for nuclear astrophysics research of slow neutron capture processes (s-process). We present a survey of research programs and plans at the completed SARAF, which span several disciplines: Precision studies of beyond-Standard-Model effects by trapping light exotic isotopes, such as ⁶He, ⁸Li and Ne isotopes, in unprecedented amounts (including meaningful studies already at Phase I); extended nuclear astrophysics research with higher energy neutrons, including generation and studies of exotic neutron-rich isotopes relevant to the rapid (r-) process; high energy neutrons cross section measurements for basic nuclear physics and material science research, including neutron induced radiation damage; neutron based imaging and therapy; and novel radio-pharmaceuticals development and production.