PERFORMANCE OF FRAGMENT SEPARATOR WITH HOMOGENEOUSLY THICK ENERGY DEGRADER - A HIGHLY FLEXIBLE SYSTEM FOR USE WITH DEGRADERS IN A WIDE THICKNESS RANGE

A projectile-fragment separator, secondary beam line, has been constru cted at RCNP for use with the K = 400 ring cyclotron. Products of the projectile fragmentation reactions are isotopically separated by makin g use of their energy-loss effect in an energy degrader. Unlike the ex isting separators of similar kind, a homogeneously thick degrader is u sed and achromatic focus is achieved by the optics of the magnetic sys tem. The separator was designed so as to possess a high ion-optical fl exibility which allows the use of degraders of widely ranged thickness . For commissioning the separator, a detailed experimental analysis of the optics was carried our to realize the design performance, and a p rescription to correctly determine the strengths of focusing devices w as established. The operational performance of the separator is presen ted.