Present: J. Billowes, Y. Blumenfeld, P. Butler, R. Catherall, J. Cederkall, L. Fraile, M.J. Garcia-Borge, P. Greenlees, M. Henry, Y. Kadi, M. Kowalska, N. Marginean, K. Riisager, D. Santonocito, N. Severijns(replacing P. Van Duppen), S. Siem, R. Losito, P. Van Duppen

Excused: B. Blank, K. Blaum, S. Harissopulos, D. Santonocito, P. Van Duppen,

Invited: J. Kurcewicz

The meeting starts at 13:30 h

1. Introductory remarks by the chairperson

The chairperson opens the meeting and informs the committee that B. Blank, K. Blaum, S. Harissopulos and D. Santonocito are excused while P. Van Duppen is replaced by N. Severijns at this meeting.  M.J. Garcia-Borge goes on to welcome Paul Greenlees as the new Finnish representative replacing Ari Jokinen. The new Finnish representative then introduces himself to the committee and gives a brief overview of his research interests.

2. Approval of the minutes of the 62nd meeting.

The minutes of the 62nd ISCC meeting are accepted without any alterations.

3. Designation of the new chair of the ISCC; effective in July 2012.

M.J. Garcia-Borge thanks the committee for allowing her to stay on as ISCC chairperson for an extra meeting and proposes Y. Blumenfeld as her successor. The committee unanimously accepts this proposal. Y. Blumenfeld will take over this duty at the end of his term as Group Leader (August 1, 2012) so the next ISCC meeting in July will still be chaired by M.J. Garcia-Borge.

4. INTC matters (P. Butler).

P. Butler informs the committee that the following day’s INTC meeting had received a record number of LOIs, addenda and new proposals as well as technical design and status reports which shows that ISOLDE continues to have a large demand for its time.

The committee is told that there will be no INTC meeting in July 2012 so the next meeting will be held 31^st October to 1^st November and will welcome HIE-ISOLDE proposals. P. Butler requests that the ISOLDE email list is updated by the ISCC representatives including the addition of researchers in their respective countries who are not yet ISOLDE users but who may be interested in HIE-ISOLDE.

P. Butler goes on to inform the committee that at the next CERN Scientific Policy Committee meeting on 12^th/13^th March 2012 he has to present a report on the recent scientific highlights from ISOLDE and n-TOF. Hence, in the near future, he will be requesting material from certain ISOLDE User groups that has either been published or presented at a conference.

5. Technical developments and BE & EN Department news (R. Catherall) (see overheads)

R. Catherall begins by summarising recent technical developments at ISOLDE including the encouraging results from the third target of CaO nanomaterial that has been developed for ISOLDE. He goes on to cover recent improvements and consolidation at REX-ISOLDE  which include the addition of FC readout channels, upgrades of both vacuum and controls systems and the increased performance of the new REXTRAP RF excitation.

The committee is informed of the plan to upgrade the 9-gap amplifier power supply to ensure operation during the 2014-2018 period. The estimated cost would be 300kEuros and commissioning should take place in early 2014. The committee exceptionally agrees to contribute a maximum of 50 KCHF to this project if necessary. It recalls however that in principle CERN is responsible for the operating expenses of REX, and not the collaboration.

R. Catherall then makes a call for support for external students for two projects at ISOLDE. The first, the contact person for which is F. Wenander, requires an experienced student for about 12 months to set up the TwinEBIS testbench. Since doctoral student Hans Tornqvist is terminating in August, the Physics Group could fund this technical student for 12 months. The second project is to detect low-intensity stable beam contamination using a Multi Channel Plate (MCP) and should take about 3 months. Contacts for this second project are F. Wenander, M. Kowlaska and B. Marsh. The committee agrees that the collaboration could provide some financial support for these students.

RILIS operation and development during 2011 is then summarised. The committee is told that ion beams of 15 elements were produced and that the lasers were used on-line for over 2500 hours; the laser team is congratulated for its efforts. Results from a new ion beam, Astatine, are then presented.

R. Catherall then goes on to summarise the work being down during the shutdown period. This includes upgrades to beam instrumentation and control applications as well as front end maintenance. Modifications of the existing target water cooling system are then discussed as well as the tests taking place on cavity cooling using 27 degrees Celsius water cooling. Users are asked to consider if their experiments would have a problem with water cooling at this temperature.

After informing the committee about the status of access to the ISOLDE hall and the movement of the controlled access SAS, R. Catherall summarises the INCA (INjector Control Architecture) project at ISOLDE. The INCA system is due to be deployed at ISOLDE in 2012 and is intended to provide control system uniformity within the accelerators complex at CERN while giving flexibility and customisation capabilities at ISOLDE.

The renovation of timing signals at ISOLDE is briefly mentioned (a presentation by T. Giles on this subject is planned for a future ISOLDE Physics group meeting) before R. Catherall turns to the subject of safety at ISOLDE. The committee is informed that the inspection of the ISOLDE Primary area by the French and Swiss authorities went well and that they were happy with the class A laboratory. R. Catherall then tells the committee that a web based safety course is being developed for access rights to the primary area and that, at some date in the near future, the existing experimental hall (building 170) will change from a Supervised radiation area to a Controlled radiation area. This will mean that short term dosimeters will no longer be allowed so a medical certificate will be mandatory to get a dosimeter and visitors will no longer be allowed in the hall.

R. Catherall sumarises the complex problem of removal and storage of radioactive targets at ISOLDE and informs the committee of the possible plan to construct new storage areas adjoining the target area by removing earth and adding concrete.

Then an overview is given of the status of the civil engineering projects ongoing at ISOLDE:

• Compressor room (198) – work should start in February 2012
• Cold Box (199) – work should start in February 2012
• New light building and visitors area (507) – on wish list
• TSR – Project in design study stage but pushing forward. The collaboration has been asked to contribute up to 10kCHF towards a detailed design study of the TSR building.
• Target area extension – planned for 2013/2014
• Medical Isotope Facility – new concept study for the construction of 200m³ as a second floor of building 179 for nuclear medicine experiments.
• Class C lab (115) – planned for the CERN long shutdown but no budget has yet been allocated although pledges of contributions have been received.

A discussion follows about how best to proceed with the project for a new light building and visitor’s area replacing building 507. The committee agrees that backing from CERN RP and visits service would give the project a better chance of succeeding.

Finally R Catherall informs the committee that the new robots will arrive at ISOLDE in March for installation during the long shutdown and that the technical team will do all it can to ensure the smooth running of the old robots during 2012.

6. Status of HIE-ISOLDE (Y. Kadi)(see overheads)

Y. Kadi begins by presenting the present HIE-ISOLDE project organisation and informing the committee that I. Goulas is now responsible for HIE-ISOLDE International collaboration i.e. communication between HIE-ISOLDE partners. W. Venturini is now responsible for the Linac system while B. Goddard will be heading the High Energy Beam Transfer working group.

Y. Kadi goes on to tell the committee that the lorry hangar near the ISOLDE hall has been dismantled and relocated so civil engineering work at ISOLDE can commence. Invitation for tenders are being launched for the cryogenic plant and the ventilation system while market surveys are being launched for the cooling system, copper forgings for the SC cavities, SC solenoids and the clean room at SM18.

The outcome of the 2^nd International Advisory Panel meeting held 9-10 January 2012 is then summarised. The effort of the HIE-ISOLDE management and in particular the efforts made to answer most of the specific points raised in the previous IAP reports was highly recognised by the IAP. Some of the recommendations made by the IAP are mentioned including that the key technical decisions should be made as soon as possible and that in kind contributions to the project should be clarified. It is explained to the committee that beam simulations are being carried out to confirm that the very stringent mechanical specification of the RF cavity inner conductor beam port can be relaxed by at least a factor of ten. This change in tolerances would simplify the construction process and therefore increase the number of companies applying, as well as allowing sputtering at even higher temperatures. The IAP advised that attention should be given to the production of x-rays at HIE-ISOLDE and recommended that the HIE-ISOLDE project management prepare a risk, budget and manpower analysis before September 2012. Finally the IAP strongly supported the addition of a storage ring to the ISOLDE infrastructure and thanked F. Zocca for all her work on beam diagnostics for the HIE-ISOLDE project.

Y. Kadi then presents the latest RF cavity testing results and the milestones that have been set in order to have the cavities tested and validated by December 2013.

The project budget is then reviewed and the committee is told that the total budget has been slightly reduced to 35.2 MCHF (2010-2015) due to currency fluctuations (buying power in Euros should theoretically stay the same or even increase) while infrastructure costs have increased by 15% and safety costs by 25%. Detailed expenditure for the SC Linac, Infrastructure and Design study & safety is then presented.

The present status of CERN staff and fellows being funded through the HIE-ISOLDE account T131910 is then summarized giving a total of 4,5 FTEs over three years. This will total 150kCHF per year. The committee is told that 18 CATHI positions have already been filled and selection is ongoing for the two positions that remain open.

The committee is informed of the visit to CERN of the CATE partners on 30-31 January 2012 which included a technical visit of installations and a meeting to finalise the MoU. The next steps in the CATE partnership are presented and J. Cederkall is thanked for heading this task.

The project to construct a linac research facility (LRF-Huelva) at the University of Huelva in Spain is summarized and the committee is informed of the visit to CERN of the LRF project team on 23-24 January 2012 to discuss possible synergies and collaboration.

Finally the outlook for the HIE-ISOLDE project during 2012 is reviewed.

7. Scheduling and PH Department news (M. Kowalska / Y. Blumenfeld) (see overheads)

M. Kowalska presents statistics from the 2011 ISOLDE running period. Out of the 491.5 shifts that were scheduled a total of 463.5 were actually delivered (330 shifts were for approved experiments and LOIs) with 222 on the GPS and 240 on the HRS. Out of the 330 physics shifts REX delivered 147 shifts and RILIS 197. The committee is shown how these shifts were divided between different physics categories.

Eleven new actinide targets were used in 2011 and 70% of shifts used this type of target. In total 28 targets (27 new units and 1 old unit) were used during last year’s ISOLDE run; the committee is shown the target distribution for 2011. M. Kowalska continues by presenting the ISOLDE delivered shift distribution from 2000 to 2011.

The committee is shown the injector schedule for 2012 and told that ISOLDE should have 35 weeks of physics this year compared to 29 in both 2010 and 2011. The requested amount of guaranteed protons was 46% but the average allocated so far is 37.5%; this could possibly increase at the next research board. After the long shutdown protons for ISOLDE should restart  in spring 2014.

M. Kowalska informs the committee that, at present, there are 79 IS experiments and 9 LOIs open at ISOLDE with a total of 741 shifts requested for 2012. If all submitted documents are accepted at the upcoming meeting of the INTC then there will be a total of 1059 shifts remaining for proposals and LOIs while a reasonable estimate of the number of shifts that can be scheduled in 2012 is 590. The fluctuation in available, requested and delivered shifts during the period from 2008 to 2011 is then presented.

The committee then hears about the highlights from physics runs that have taken place since the last ISCC meeting. This includes the first high-statistics run for WITCH, the first successful run of CRIS on neutron defficient Fr isotopes and the new g-factor setup used at MINIBALL.

Finally M. Kowalska turns to the subject of safety and informs the committee of the visit of ISOLDE  by the French and Swiss authorities and that an online ISOLDE access course is under discussion.

Y. Blumenfeld then takes over to present the PH department news. At the fellows and associates committee meeting that took place in December 2011 there were 12 fellow candidates for ISOLDE which is on a par with LHC experiments. Two new fellows were hired: Susanne Kreim (ISOLTRAP) who started her position in January 2012 and Elisa Rapisarda (MINBALL) who will start in September of this year. The other fellows currently in the ISOLDE group are J. Kurcewicz who started in December 2011, D. Yordanov who received a 3 month extension to his contract until March 31st and T. Cocolios who’s contract will finish on June 30th 2011.

At present there are two CERN PhD students at ISOLDE: H. Tornqvist (until Aug. 2012) and K. Lynch (until August 2013). Phil Walker from the University of Surrey is currently a Project associate at ISOLDE and, when his contract expires at the end of March 2012, he will stay on at ISOLDE as a full time user until this summer.

Y. Blumenfeld goes on to inform the committee of the recent ISOLDE related articles that have appeared in the CERN Courrier. The committee is informed that the first long CERN shutdown is now fixed from December 2012 to April 2014 and there will be no stable beam physics during this period. Y. Blumenfeld concludes by telling the committee that there will be no post accelerated beams before the startup of HIE-ISOLDE at the end of 2014.

8. ENSAR news (Y. Blumenfeld) (see overheads)

Y. Blumenfeld presents the status of the ENSAR TNA subsistence at ISOLDE. All full

Contract targets should be met except the number of days of subsistence paid due to the

strength of the Swiss franc and the fixed CERN daily subsistence rate. The committee

decides that, of the remaining funds, 80 kEuros should be paid out during 2012 and 40kEuros

should be held back until 2014 after the long CERN shutdown. 

Y. Blumenfeld informs the committee that ENSAR access costs are used to fund 50% of J.

Thiboud’s salary for technical assistance and 100% of J. Kurcewicz’s post for DAQ upgrade

and support.

9. M.O.U. matters (Y. Blumenfeld) (see overheads)

The committee is informed that the updated MoU should, after a final verification by CERN, soon be sent to ISCC representatives of countries who require a signature. Y. Blumenfeld then summarises the status of negotiations with various countries:

• India will sign the MoU at the Kolkata workshop in April.
• There is no recent news from Korea.
• Sweden has requested a specific agreement, similar to France, in order for future collaboration fees to be paid.
• S. Siem remains optimistic that Norway will pay the collaboration fees that are due. Since the meeting, confirmation has been received that Norway will pay the fees for the 3 years from 2009 to 2011 and have funds for the next 4 years.
• Greece has promised to pay its outstanding fees but, as yet, nothing has been received.
• Serbia has shown interest in joining the ISOLDE collaboration.
• Slovakia has requested to sign an agreement without joining the collaboration. The committee decides that, while it is happy to supply a letter of support, no agreement outside the MoU can be signed.

10. Budget 2011 and 2012 (Y. Blumenfeld) (see overheads)

The committee is informed that France, Greece, Ireland and Spain have not yet paid the 2011 collaboration fee. (Since the meeting the Irish contribution for 2011 has been received.)

An analysis of expenditure on the collaboration team account during 2011 is then presented and the committee is told that a total of 732kCHF has been used including the 300kCHF given to the HIE-ISOLDE project.

The committee agrees to the spending of 10kCHF on a detailed study of the possible TSR building and data acquisition/visitor rooms. As already mentioned above, it is also agreed to contribute up to 50kCHF towards a new 9 gap power supply on the understanding that this is an exceptional case and it is up to CERN to maintain CERN equipment.

Y. Blumenfeld summarises the status of the HIE-ISOLDE team account that in 2011 received 300kCHF from the collaboration and 51kCHF as a special German contribution. The expenditure during 2011 came to a total of 242kCHF of which 95% was used for manpower.

11. Data Acquisition improvements at ISOLDE: first ideas (J. Kurcewicz) (see overheads)

J. Kurcewicz presents his first ideas for improvements of data acquisition at ISOLDE. The committee thanks him for his presentation

A discussion follows about the system used at the University of Jyväskylä and it is concluded that it has many advantages and is user friendly but it would, however, require manpower to maintain the system. It is suggested that J. Kurcewicz take a look at the system now in use at ILL Grenoble.

The committee specifies that, after J. Kurcewicz has completed his study of the possible options available to improve the data acquisition system, it will be up to the ISOLDE user community to decide how to proceed. A committee consisting of the following experts is set up to determine the requirements of the user community :

• J. Cederkall
• P. Greenlees
• O. Tengblad
• J. Kurcewicz
• M. Kowalska (or someone from CRIS)
• P. Rieter will be asked to nominate someone from MINIBALL

It is stressed that all eventual solutions should be well documented and user friendly.

12. Dates for 2012 ISOLDE Workshop.

 The 2012 ISOLDE Workshop and Users meeting will be held at CERN from 17 to 19 December.

13. A.O.B

• The next ISCC meeting will be held on Tuesday July 3rd at 13:30.
• A renewable contract is being put in place by the University of Oslo for the ISOLDE administrative position which will be contingent on funding from ISOLDE and CERN.

The meeting ends at 18:00.