Photo-fission for the production of radioactive beams ALTO project

In order to probe neutron rich radioactive noble gases produced by photo-fission, a PARRNe-1 experiment (Production d Atomes Radioactifs Riches en Neutrons) has been carried out at CERN. The incident electron beam of 50 MeV was delivered by the LIL machine: LEP Injector Linac. The experiment allowed us to compare under the same conditions two production methods of radioactive noble gases: fission induced by fast neutrons and photo-fission. The obtained results show that the use of the electrons is a promising mode to get intense neutron rich ion beams. After the success of this photo-fission experiment, a conceptual design for the installation at IPN Orsay of a 50 MeV electron accelerator close to the PARRNe-2 device has been worked out: ALTO Project. This work has started within a collaboration between IPNO, LAL (Laboratoire de l Acc el erateur Lin eaire) and CERN groups. 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 29.85.Rm; 25.82.Ec; 29.30.Kv