Storage rings for radioactive ion beams

Storage rings for radioactive heavy ions can be applied for a wide range of experiments in atomic and nuclear physics. The rare isotope beams are produced in flight via fragmentation or fission of high-intensity primary ions and they circulate in the storage ring at moderately relativistic energies (typically between 0.1 GeV/u up to 1 GeV/u). Due to their production mechanism they are usually highly charged or even fully stripped. The circulating radioactive heavy ion beams can be used to measure nuclear properties such as masses and decay times, which, in turn, can depend strongly on the ionic charge state. The storage rings must have large acceptances and dynamic apertures. The subsequent application of stochastic precooling of the secondary ions which are injected with large transverse and longitudinal emittances, and electron cooling to reach very high phase space densities has turned out to be a helpful tool for experiments with short-lived ions having lifetimes down to a few seconds. Some of these experiments have already been performed at the experimental storage ring ESR at GSI. The storage ring complex of the FAIR project is intended to enhance significantly the range of experimental possibilities. It is planned to extend the scope of experimental possibilities to collisions with electron or antiproton beams.