Present: K. Bharuth-Ram, B. Blank, R. Catherall, J. Cederkall (P.T.), D. Doherty, K. Johnston, N. Marginean, G. Neyens, J. Pakarinen, M. Pfützner, K. Riisager, L. Schweikhard, O. Tengblad,  M. Venhart

Excused: H. Fynbo (replaced by K. Riisager), A. Nannini, N. Severijns, S. Siem

Absent: S. Gilardoni, Y. Kadi, A. Lagoyannis

Invited: K. Blaum, M. Grieser, M. Krammer, J.A. Rodriguez, S. Rothe, E. Siesling, T. Stora, W. Venturini, F. Wenander

(P.T. = Part Time attendance)

The meeting starts at 09:00 h

1. Introductory remarks

The ISCC chairperson, B. Blank, opens the meeting and excuses the committee members who are unable to attend the meeting. J. Pakarinen is introduced as the new representative of Finland.

2. Approval of the Minutes of the last meeting of February 6^th, 2018

The minutes from the previous meeting are approved.

3. Status of the REX/HIE-ISOLDE beam commissioning– J.A. Rodriguez

The committee is told that phase 2B of the HIE-ISOLDE project, which involves the addition of the 4th cryomodule CM4 as well as the modification of the XT00 beamline, is now operational. Machine checkout tests were successfully completed during weeks 20 and 21. J. A. Rodriguez informs the committee that hardware commissioning ended on 29^th May and then goes on to summarise the beam commissioning activities that have been completed so far as well as those that still have to take place. The committee is told that work is on track compared to the initial schedule and the machine should be ready for the start of HIE-ISOLDE physics in week 28 with a ⁹⁶Kr run at 4.8MeV/u for Miniball.

4. Commissioning of last cryomodule and repair plans for LS2– W. Venturini Delsolaro

The HIE-ISOLDE hardware commissioning sequence is presented and the committee told that in 2018 the hardware commissioning finished on time. W. Venturini Delsolaro then gives an overview of the 2018 cool down which included CM4. Repairs of the cryogenics distribution line during the winter stop have paid off with full cool down from room temperature taking three weeks which included a stop for RF conditioning. However there is an anomalous static heat load in CM2 which is still not understood.

W. Venturini Delsolaro explains that, after cool down to 200K, it was not possible to inject power into cavity 3 of CM4 whereas warm measurement had been normal. Investigations narrowed down the problem to the connection to the fundamental power coupler so it was decided not to put power in this cavity. Hence avoiding the risk of contaminating the whole cryomodule in the case of release of material in the common vacuum. The 5% energy reduction caused by not using cavity 3 in CM4 should not affect 2018 physics as experiments scheduled are still within the energy reach of the machine.  An intervention to repair cavity 3 and possibly replace some of the cavities with the best performing spares during the CERN long shutdown LS2 has been requested and been given first approval on the 22^nd June by the LS2C, which is the body that would assign the required resources. However, the BE department management reserve the right to make a final decision depending on 2018 operations. The intervention would involve removing CM4 and transporting it back to SM18; radiation levels of CM4 are being estimated to check that the repairs would be allowed to be made in the SM18 clean room. The cryomodule would be removed after the end of the physics run in November 2018 although it could be postponed until January 2019.

The cavity performance of the first three cryomodules compared to last year is presented as well as the performance of the remaining four cavities in CM4. Cavity 5 in the fourth cryomodule which has the new seamless design is working well and the successful first beam through the full linac on 29^th May fully validated the new design.

W. Venturini Delsolaro concludes by telling the committee that spare cavities production is in progress with three units already secured.

5. LIEBE target: off-line tests and on-line planning– T. Stora

The motivation and status of the LIEBE (Liquid Eutectic lead Bismuth for Eurisol) high power target project is presented. The design and assembly of the prototype is now completed and offline commissioning has begun. It has been found that the flow developed by the EM pump, vibration and target handling and optimisation are all within specifications. However a thermally induced leak of the confinement vessel was discovered which has required a new base design to solve the problem. T. Stora tells the committee that a full offline test is planned for August before an operation review in September. It is hoped to perform online tests on the GPS in November.

6. Beam developments and related points– S. Rothe

The current members of the Target and Ion Source Development (TISD) team are presented as S. Rothe, De. Leimbach, J. Ballof, F. Boix Pamies, Y. Martinez, J.P. Ramos and T. Stora. This is followed by an overview of the targets used in the experiments run at ISOLDE from April to June 2018, which included the factor 10 yield increase in ⁸BF₂ from the nano target used for the latest IDS run.

S. Rothe then summarises the status of the LIST project and the new GANDALPH negative Ion Source (GANDIS). The committee is then informed that a dedicated workstation and VSIM license have been bought to allow ion source simulations to be performed at ISOLDE and that a VSIM workshop will be held at CERN during the EMIS conference in September. Recent developments in the P2n converter project are presented as well as the status and new developments of the new yield database.

Regarding the TISD projects planned for 2018 and presented at the ISCC meeting in February, S. Rothe informs the committee that the RILIS offline work as well as that planned for LIST is already completed. All other projects are still on going.

7. Technical news from 2018 start-up and related issues – R. Catherall

The presentation begins with a summary of the 2018 start up. Water was back at ISOLDE on 26^th February leaving one month for the cold check out. A number of initial beam diagnostics and controls issues were detected during this period and work was complicated due to too many co-activities, such as RFQ cooler tests and RILIS developments, taking place at the same time as the cold check out.

R. Catherall informs the committee that two days of beam time in week 20 were allocated to the check out of the fast tape station and details the issues encountered. As the tests were incomplete, further testing will have to take place during the summer if the tape station is going to be installed at ISOLDE during LS2.

The committee is told that the new HT modulator is working well and so the TE-ABT-EC group has requested to be able to install another modulator and power supply on the GPS during the first quarter of 2019. However, this would mean that there would not be a negative ion run in 2021 because the bi-polar power supply would need further testing after LS2 before it is integrated.  The committee agree to the request from the TE-ABT-EC group and decide to schedule a negative ion run during the second half of 2018 as it will not be possible to have another until 2022. Replying to a question from O. Tengblad, the committee is told by R. Catherall that it is possible to run at 60kV but users have to be prepared to wait until the HT is stable.

R. Catherall announces that the new pump laser has allowed the first demonstration of Doppler-free RILIS ionization at ISOLDE. This will make RILIS capable of high resolution laser spectroscopy for nuclear physics studies and laser ionization of non-metals as well as an enhanced selectivity.

The committee is told that the ISOLDE hall beam line re-alignment, the replacement of beam line power supplies and the upgrade of ventilation controls will definitely not take place during LS2. R. Catherall then summarises the work that will be carried out during the second long shut down which includes the replacement of the two existing frontends on GPS and HRS. A number of separator upgrades are planned including the installation of the fast tape station in the CA0 beamline and a nitrogen gas supply line for experiments.

The RF activities that will take place at REX/HIE-ISOLDE during LS2 are presented and then the projects planned at HIE-ISOLDE. The committee is told that a plan is being formulated to install three diagnostic boxes and two steerers between REX and HIE-ISOLDE due to the fact that about 20% of beam is lost between the REX separator and the HIE-ISOLDE LINAC.

R. Catherall presents the proposed layout of the class A extension (nano-lab) to a safe working environment to produce actinide nano material targets and explains the impact that this will have on the existing facility. The preliminary schedule for the project is shown with civil engineering works beginning in September 2019 and commissioning of the extension in April 2021.

Finally, the general planning for the activities during LS2 is presented. The committee is informed that only power and local vacuum will be available during the shutdown; no cooling water will be available. However, users should be aware that power cuts will occur during this period.

8. INTC matters, safety, beam times– K. Johnston

The committee is shown the CERN injector accelerator schedule for 2018 and told that this year protons are available for physics at ISOLDE from 9^th April to 12^th November corresponding to 217 days. A dedicated block of 90 days for low energy experiments was scheduled from 9^th April and, with HIE-ISOLDE on track for physics from 9^th July, HIE and low energy runs will be interleaved from then onwards.

A summary of the beam requests for 2018 is presented with 60% being for HIE-ISOLDE. K. Johnston then shows the committee the ISOLDE schedule for the period from April up to and including August this year and explains that so far, in general, runs have gone well taking into consideration that low energy experiments are now at a point where the requested beams are more exotic so more difficult to produce.

The committee is informed that the ISOLDE weekly schedule now contains a new column for MEDICIS activities which, so far, have not had any impact on the ISOLDE programme. The MEDICIS station could possibly be available for offline irradiation of ISOLDE targets in the autumn.

K. Johnston explains that a new ISOLDE schedule “TAC” (Technical advisory committee) has been set up in order to avoid surprises related to the schedule and discuss yields, target impurities, feasibilities etc.

The beam use so far this year is presented and the committee told that the physics output has been fairly constant. There have been 163 physics shifts so far this year for 18 experiments. The highlights of the physics runs are then summarised including the ⁸B electron capture experiment IS633 and experiments at COLLAPS, CRIS and ISOLTRAP as well as several solid state physics runs. Unfortunately, the autotune system is not presently working; a new CERN supported programme is being developed. K. Johnston shows the draft planning for experiments for the rest of the year and tells the committee that stable beams should be available for a certain period after protons end on 12^th November.

The committee is informed that the two technicians, Antonio Goncalves and Francois Garnier, who are supported by the collaboration are available to ISOLDE users especially for mechanical work. Very positive feedback has been received about work already carried out for MIRACLS, IDS, HIE-ISOLDE, VITO and biophysics although their day to day involvement in the hall could be improved.

K. Johnston explains that the training requirements for entering the ISOLDE hall are unchanged and that the expiration dates for the hands on courses are a mistake; users should contact the CERN safety training office if they are affected in any way by this. A new approach to safety courses is to be developed by the training department during LS2 which should leave to more frequent courses taking place.

Finally, the committee is told that only letters of intent will be presented at the June INTC meeting as well as the first TAS status report. It is possible that there will not be a meeting of the INTC in February 2019.

9. EURISOL-DF and ENSAR2– G. Neyens

The committee is reminded that the current ENSAR2 project runs from March 2016 to February 2020 and is made up of Joint Research Activities (JRA) and Network Activities (NA) as well as the Transnational Acces (TA) which is very important to support users taking part in experiments at European facilities. The TA part of the present project is below 50% but it is proposed to increase this in the next proposal. The outcome of the EU programme committee meeting for research infrastructure, that took place on 8^th June, was that there is a good chance that the next nuclear physics call will be part of the EU H2020 calls for the period 2019 – 2020. The call should be published by the European Commission in November 2018 with a deadline for the submission of the proposals in March 2019. At the ENSAR2 Town meeting in Groningen in April, a Scientific Steering Committee was set up, with one representative from each research infrastructure, to prepare for the next Integrated Activity. The committee will meet in Pisa the 2^nd to 4^th July and proposals about which institution will coordinate the preparation of the new proposal and the project itself as well as the person who will be the scientific coordinator will have to be considered.

G. Neyens reminds the committee that the EURISOL Distributed Facility (DF) initiative is the next step on the way to the future EURISOL facility and a way to get EURISOL back into the ESFRI list. The members of the EURISOL Steering Committee, who are preparing the proposal, are listed below:

• EURISOL User Group: Berta Rubio

• ENSAR2 (JRA EURISOL): Yorick Blumenfeld

• SPIRAL2-GANIL: Marek Lewitowicz (Chair), Ketel Turzó (Scientific Secretary)

• SPES-INFN: Sara Pirrone

• ISOLDE-CERN: Gerda Neyens

• COPIN: Adam Maj

• NUPECC: Angela Bracco

• BEC: Lucia Popescu

• JYU: Ari Jokinen

• ALTO: Fadi Ibrahim

The committee will next meet in Pisa on 2^nd July before the EURISOL Town meeting. The EURISOL-DF Preparatory Phase (PP) is planned for the period 2021 to 2023 with a request for 3-4 million Euros, of which 2 million will be for facility upgrades. This corresponds to about 350 kEuros for each facility. G. Neyens presents the time line for the proposal preparation and informs the committee that the working group reports were completed in May 2018. It is planned to present an executive summary of the PP proposal at the Pisa Town meeting and a writing group has been set up to prepare the proposal for submission to ESFI in August 2019. The members of the writing group, M. Lewitowicz, B. Rubio, Y. Blumenfeld and A. Bracco, have requested input from each infrastructure about what it would like to include in the EURISOL-DF proposal regarding upgrades of the facility, in terms of equipment and costs, for the preparatory phase from 2021 to 2023 and the following period from 2024 to 2028. A discussion follows about the upgrades that should be included in the proposal for ISOLDE. For the preparatory phase these could include:

• CERN accelerator improvements and ISOLDE modifications required to receive higher power proton beam.

• Upgrade of REX-ISOLDE

• Upgrades of ISOLDE beam purity and emittance

• A fragment identifier (HIFI) behind MINIBALL

• Preparation for receiving the AGATA detector.

The request for ISOLDE for the period 2024 to 2028 could include the following:

• Installation of new beam dumps during LS3

• Modification of the transfer lines from the Booster to ISOLDE for 2 GeV beam transport

• Upgrade of the REX-ISOLDE low-energy section

• Construction of a storage ring

• Installation and running of AGATA.

The EURISOL-DF PP proposal writing group has also requested to know how much beamtime each facility could offer to EURISOL-DF experiments during the period from 2021to 2016. G. Neyens proposes that ISOLDE could provide “up to 2 months, upon recommendation of the experiments by the INTC to the CERN research board”. A discussion follows.

10. News from ISOLDE group + financial report– G. Neyens

The present manpower situation in the ISOLDE Physics Group is summarized by G. Neyens.

• Associate: Andrei Andreyev (July 2017 to September 2018), Joachim Cederkall (October 2017 to September 2018). Maria J.G. Borge (September 2018 to November 2018), Luis Fraile (May 2018 to August 2018) Deadline for new applications 16^th September 2018.

• Staff Members: Magda Kowalska (ERC betaDropNMR) (October 2015 to September 2018), Stephan Ettenbauer (ERC MIRACLS)(February 2017 to January 2021), Karl Johnston (Physics Coordinator)(October 2015 to September 2019), Gerda Neyens (Physics Group Leader) (June 2017 to June 2020). The physics coordinator post is to be discussed at the next ISCC meeting.

• User: Jenny Weterings (User Support) (2002- )

• Research Fellows: Liam Gaffney –Miniball (October 2016 to September 2019), Hanne Heylen – COLLAPS/VITO (October 2017 to September 2020), Ronald Garcia Ruiz – CRIS (January 2018 to December 2019). Deadline for new applications 3^rd September 2018.

• Applied Fellows: Andree Welker – HIFI Spectrometer/WISArD (August 2017 to July 2019), Stavroula Pallada –BetaDROPNMR (April 2017 to March 2019), Frank Wienholtz – MR-TOF-MS (January 2016 to December 2018), Joonas Konki – HIE-ISOLDE Experiments (March 2018 to February 2020), Simon Sels – MIRACLES (March 2018 to February 2020). Deadline for new applications 3^rd September 2018.

• Doctoral Students: Robert Harding (CERN-ERC Betadrop) (January 2017 to December 2018), Jonas Karthein (CERN via Gentner Doctoral Program) (November 2017 to October 2020), Varvara Lagaki (CERN-MIRACLES) (September 2017 to August 2020), Simon Lechner (CERN-MIRACLES) (September 2017 to August 2020), Jared Croese (CERN- EP-SME) (February 2018 to January 2021).

G. Neyens then updates the committee on the status of the EMIS 2018 conference organisation. The preliminary programme is on-line. General and targeted emails are being sent to remind the community of the 3^rd July hostel booking deadline and a reminder about the early bird registration deadline (31^st July) will be sent out in the first half of next month.

The committee is reminded that this year’s ISOLDE Workshop and Users meeting will be held at CERN from Wednesday 5^th to Friday 7^th December. The organising committee will meet in early August to decide on possible invited speakers.

The status of ongoing collaboration membership negotiations is summarised:

• Greece has now signed the new MoU and will sign the old MoU so that outstanding invoices can be paid. At the ISCC meeting in June 2016 it was agreed to keep the Greek contribution at the level of 30kCHF until 2019.

• Portugal have agreed to pay 10 kCHF per year without the need to sign an agreement although it is not yet clear to whom invoices should be sent. Negotiations to become a full member are still ongoing.

• The BOSE Institute in India will become an institute member, with observer status, paying 10kCHF a year for a period of 3 years. The agreement has been signed by CERN and sent to the BOSE Institute.

• Turkey has expressed an interest in becoming a member of the collaboration, funded through the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority, but they will wait until after LS2 to make a final decision.

G. Neyens presents an overview of the income already received from collaboration members for 2018 and the outstanding invoices. The income and expenditure forecast for 2019 is shown as well as the credit balance evolution since 2016. The collaboration is reminded of the HIE-ISOLDE repayment plan to CERN; For Phase 1 a repayment of 140kCHF per year still has to be made up to an including 2020 while a payment of 400kCHF has to be made to CERN for Phase 2 up to and including 2022 with a remaining amount of approximately 283kCHF in 2023.

The committee decides to continue to fund the two technicians, who support users, at 25% each for 2019. After discussion, the committee agree to continue funding the Manchester contract of A. Miyazaki for one more year, i.e. to the end of 2019, as long as the contract extension and repayments to Manchester are approved by the CERN legal service.

After a request was received from S. Rothe from the TISD group at ISOLDE, the committee agrees in principle to fund the postdoc position of R. Heinke for one year but this decision depends on the cost of the post and the employment contract/reimbursement being legally accepted by CERN.

The committee clarifies that the funding of the posts for A. Miyazaki and R. Heinke are exception cases and must not be seen as long term solutions.

11. The European Strategy for Particle Physics upgrade– M. Krammer

The head of the CERN EP department, M. Krammer, explains to the committee that the European Strategy for Particle Physics (ESPP) is Europe wide so goes beyond CERN itself. However, it is “owned” by the CERN Council. The strategy is updated every 6 to 7 years, so a call for scientific input from the scientific community was made in February 2018 with a submission deadline of 18^th December 2018. Submissions have a ten page limit. It is planned to have the strategy update  approved by the CERN Council in May 2020.

M. Krammer informs the committee that NuPECC and APPEC are observers to the ESG (European Strategy Group) and that nuclear physics is directly represented in the ESG as part of the PPG (Particle Physics Group). Members of the PPG include 4 from the CERN SPC (Scientific Policy Committee), 4 from the ECFA (European Committee for Future Accelerators) and 1 member from CERN.

The committee is told that for nuclear physics the ESPP update would include Heavy Ion Physics adopted by all four LHC experiments and Nuclei studies carried out at ISOLDE and n_ToF. Hence, it is important that input about the future plans for ISOLDE upgrades is submitted to the ESG by the December 2018 deadline.

12. ISOLDE in the ESPP: possible items to include– K. Riisager

It is explained by K. Riisager that ISOLDE is part of the “diversity program” which makes CERN a high energy accelerator laboratory instead of a laboratory just for particle physics. ISOLDE benefits

from CERN’s high energy proton beam as the “ultimate ISOL driver” and the facility now provides low energy and post-accelerated beams to about 50 experiments each year with users coming from all

over the world. The HIE-ISOLDE project, which began in 2010, is designed to increase energy and intensity at ISOLDE as well improve beam quality. In 2020 the new LINAC4 at CERN is due to

increase proton beam intensity from 2uA to 4uA and the PSB upgrade will increase energy from 1.4 to 2GeV. Hence, a major project at ISOLDE should be to take full advantage of LINAC4 and be able

to run at full intensity at 2GeV.

K. Riisager suggests that ISOLDE submission to the ESPP should also include new experimental possibilities such as a storage ring, the superconducting low energy section (HIE-ISOLDE phase 3) as

well as a long list of smaller experiment projects. It is suggested by B. Blank that a high resolution separator be added to the list.

13. A new storage ring at ISOLDE (ISR): reminder on the physics cases– K. Blaum

The committee is reminded that the previous project (TSR@ISOLDE) to move the existing storage ring from MPI Heidelberg to CERN was put on hold in 2016 with a final decision by the CERN director general postponed until after LS2. However, the ring could not be kept in Heidelberg this long without the project getting the green light from CERN.

K. Blaum presents a new project to build a new smaller storage ring at ISOLDE (ISR) which could almost be integrated in the existing building. ISOLDE would become unique being the only ISOL facility in the world with a storage ring. The physics applications of in-ring measurements as well as those using both internal and external targets are briefly presented. The committee is told that the physics reach of the ISR combined with HIE-ISOLDE would open up a number of new fields of research including atomic physics with radionuclides and that new opportunities, particularly in nuclear astrophysics, will come with the ISR.

14. A preliminary design for a compact storage ring and possible integration into the HIE-ISOLDE hall– M. Grieser

The previous TSR@ISOLDE project is briefly summarised and then the design criteria and layout of the proposed new compact storage ring (ISR) are presented. A possible location for the storage ring is proposed which would only require a small extension behind building 170 and allow the ring to be installed at the same level as the present experimental hall. A much shorter beamline would therefore be required compared to the TSR project, hence, a major cost saving would be made. M. Grieser estimates the cost of the ISR project at roughly 20 MCHF and the construction time at 3 years. The committee is told that at least one operator would be required for the running of the storage ring but the uniqueness of the facility would attract many new users.

E. Siesling confirms that the construction of the proposed extension would have no effect on the running of ISOLDE and the wall into the hall could be cut during a short winter shutdown. The installation of the ring itself could take place while ISOLDE is running.

A discussion about the proposed project takes place.

15. 2 GeV upgrade: physics possibilities (based on intensity gains) and needs – G. Neyens

The new physics that will become possible with a beam intensity increase from 1.4 to 2 GeV is summarised. With respect to the impact on physics at ISOLDE, G. Neyens explains that new and more exotic species will be available with the increase of intensities and many proposals, especially for HIE-ISOLDE, will be able to shorten their beamtime requests which at present have to be unnecessarily prolonged due to low intensities. This in turn will reduce the pressure on targets that are at their present lifetime limit. It is stressed, however, that it is important to also keep the 1.4GeV proton beam for certain nuclei.

In response to a question from K. Blaum, the committee is told by R. Catherall that, with respect to the 2GeV beam, improvements related to the targets at ISOLDE will be required but they are thought to be possible. It is also clarified that the change of the beam dump must take place during a long shutdown period.

G. Neyens explains that F. Wienholtz and S. Malbrunot-Ettenhauer have applied to the “CERN medical funds” for funding for the MR-ToF project and have been awarded 70 kCHF on the condition that the additional funding for the project can be secured from other ISOLDE sources. In terms of equipment, another 70 kCHF are required of which 35 kCHF will be covered by the MPI Heidelberg. The ISCC committee agrees to contribute the remaining 35 kCHF

16. Discussion and strategy plan

After discussion, it is decided that the input to be submitted by ISOLDE to the ESPP should contain one section on facility upgrades and another on new experimental opportunities. The document should be written for a non-nuclear physics audience and should stress the complementarity and the uniqueness of ISOLDE. The committee creates a writing group made up of G. Neyens, K. Blaum, M. Grieser, K. Riisager, J.A. Rodriguez and R. Catherall to complete this task. G. Neyens will prepare a template to be completed by the writing group members.

17. A.O.B.

• K. Riisager tells the committee that the preliminary dates of the INTC meetings in 2019 are 6/7 February, 2/3 July and 6/7 November. This would make the dates of next year’s ISCC meetings, Tuesday 5^th February, Monday 1^st July and Tuesday 5^th November.

18. Dates of the next meeting

The date of the remaining ISCC meeting this year is Tuesday 6^th November.

Meeting ends at 16:30

N.B. The overheads of the above presentations can be found via https://indico.cern.ch/event/730477/