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The ISOLDE facility at CERN is one of CERN's longest running experimental areas and the only CERN facility dedicated to nuclear physics. Using the Isotope Separation On-line method (ISOL) the facility produces more than 800 isotopes of 70 different elements. In 2003 the ISOLDE facility delivered 268 eight-hour shifts of radioactive beam to 27 approved experiments. The new radioactive beam facility, ISOLDE REX, used 61 eight-hour shifts for physics.
The facility has just undergone a major consolidation programme to assure the long term future. The target laboratory is being extended and upgraded to highest safety standards and a sizeable extension is being added to the ISOLDE experimental hall. In addition, the REX post accelerator facility is presently being integrated as part of the facility, rather than being run as a separate experiment.
The main ion source at ISOLDE is the Resonant Laser Ionization Source (RILIS). It is used for more than half of the physics shifts. The system can deliver isotopically pure 1+ beams of 25 elements. Several up-grades are planned, among them measures to reduced parasitic ionization, automatization of the full system and a replacement of existing CV laser tubes with solid state lasers.
For the mid term future ISOLDE hopes to benefit from a possible upgrade of the CERN proton injector, the PS Booster, and take a proton beam current of 10 microAmps at 1.4 GeV to the primary target stations. Furthermore, an upgrade in stages of the REX linac to 10 MeV/u is in progress. The long term future is closely linked to the progress of the Superconducting Proton Linac (SPL) project at CERN and the EURISOL Design Study proposal that recently was approved by the European Community. The EURISOL design study includes the study of a so-called beta-beam facility for the production of an intense electron (anti-) neutrino beam for the search of CP violation in the weak sector.
I will in my talk review the present status of ISOLDE, discuss the ongoing technical R&D and the future plans. I will also give an overview of the CERN beta-beam conceptual design for which a next generation ISOL facility is required.