https://doi.org/10.1140/epjti/s40485-023-00100-w
Research Article
Status report of the n_TOF facility after the 2nd CERN long shutdown period
1
University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece
2
European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva, Switzerland
3
Agenzia Nazionale per le Nuove Tecnologie (ENEA), Bologna, Italy
4
Sezione di Bologna, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Bologna, Italy
5
Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas Medioambientales y Tecnologicas (CIEMAT), Madrid, Spain
6
Sezione di Pavia, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Pavia, Italy
7
Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
8
INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Catania, Italy
9
University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
10
Instituto de Física Corpuscular, CSIC - Universidad de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
11
University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
12
CEA Irfu, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
13
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Dresden, Germany
14
Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Magurele, Romania
15
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
16
University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago, Spain
17
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
18
Sezione di Trieste, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Trieste, Italy
19
Department of Physics, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
20
National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece
21
Sezione di Torino, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Torino, Italy
22
Department of Physics, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
23
Sezione di Bari, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Bari, Italy
24
Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain
25
Sezione di Perugia, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Perugia, Italy
26
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio Astronomico di Teramo, Teramo, Italy
27
Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
28
Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal
29
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Bundesallee 100, 38116, Braunschweig, Germany
30
Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), Villigen, Switzerland
31
Sezione di Roma, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Roma, Italy
32
University of Granada, Granada, Spain
33
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Geel, Belgium
34
University of York, York, United Kingdom
35
TU Wien, Atominstitut, Stadionallee 2, 1020, Wien, Austria
36
Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Tokai-Mura, Japan
37
Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
38
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
39
Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
40
INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Legnaro, Italy
41
Dipartimento Interateneo di Fisica, Università Degli Studi di Bari, Bari, Italy
42
Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche, Bari, Italy
43
Dipartimento di Fisica e Geologia, Università di Perugia, Perugia, Italy
44
INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Frascati (Roma), Italy
45
Sezione di Catania, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Catania, Italy
46
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
47
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, 75120, Uppsala, Sweden
Received:
24
April
2023
Accepted:
8
May
2023
Published online:
17
May
2023
During the second long shutdown period of the CERN accelerator complex (LS2, 2019-2021), several upgrade activities took place at the n_TOF facility. The most important have been the replacement of the spallation target with a next generation nitrogen-cooled lead target. Additionally, a new experimental area, at a very short distance from the target assembly (the NEAR Station) was established. In this paper, the core commissioning actions of the new installations are described. The improvement in the n_TOF infrastructure was accompanied by several detector development projects. All these upgrade actions are discussed, focusing mostly on the future perspectives of the n_TOF facility. Furthermore, some indicative current and future measurements are briefly reported.
Key words: Neutron time of flight / Spallation target / Nuclear astrophysics / Neutron physics / Neutron induced fission / Neutron reactions
© The Author(s) 2023
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