2.1 Ion sources

The ion sources are the starting point of the GSI/FAIR accelerator facility. Here ions from all (natural) elements of the periodic table can be created with the help of high voltage (up to 300 000 V). Subsequent they can get accelerated in the linear and the ring accelerator.

2.2 Linear Accelerator UNILAC

The linear accelerator UNILAC (UNIversal Linear ACcelerator) has a length of 120 meters. Ions, e.g. charged atoms of all chemical elements can be accelerated up to 20 percent of the speed of light (60,000 km/s) with this unit. The inside is only visible during maintenance work. The UNILAC is composed of three different consecutive accelerator structurees.

In the heavy-ion synchrotron SIS18 (ger. SchwerIonenSynchrotron) with a circumference of 216 meters he ion beam is further accelerated up to 90 percent of the speed of light (270,000 km/s) in the course of several hundred thousand circulations.

In the storage ring ESR (ger. ExperimentierSpeicherRing) with a circumference of 108 meters ions accelerated in the UNILAC and SIS18 can be stored at very high speeds and used in experiments.

The Cryring is a storage ring with a circumference of 54 m. It can provide an especially high vacuum of 10^-11 mbar. It is the first accelerator ring of the future FAIR facility and plays a crucial role for the testing of FAIR components as well as the control software of the SIS100 accelerator ring.

The 75 meters long FRS (FRagment Separator) ist located behind the ring accelerator SIS18. It is used to produce rare isotopes of naturally occurring heavy nuclei. Directly after the production they are sent to an experimental site or stored in the ESR.

The Green IT Cube is a high performance computing center used by scientists from GSI and FAIR to analyse the large amounts of data gained in the experiments. In its final assembly it will be one of the largest scientifc computer centers in the world with a cooling power of twelve megawatts. Thanks to an innovative cooling system the Green IT Cube will save 90 percent of the cooling energy compared to other supercomputers and thus is very energy efficient and cost saving.

4.1 Heavy Elements

In this field of research scientist try to discover superheavy elements above the naturally occurring uranium with the atomic number 92. GSI hosts two experimental set-up's: SHIP (Separator for Heavy Ion reaction Products) and TASCA (TransActinide Separator and Chemistry Apparatus).

The detection system HADES (High Acceptance Di-Electron Spectrometer) is one of the largest experiments at GSI. It is used for research on compressed hot nuclear matter produced in collisions of ion beam and target. Several layers of detectors identify different particles based on their charge, velocity or mass.

The high performance and high energy laser PHELIX (Petawatt High-Energy Laser for Ion EXperiments) is used for research in plasma and atomic physics. GSI offers the worldwide unique opportunity to conducted combined experiments with laser and ion beam.

The Large Hadron Collider LHC at CERN is the largest accelerator of the world. ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) belongs to the four large experiments located at LHC. The 25 meters long, 16 meters wide and 16 meters high apparatus weighs approx. 10.000 tons and hosts 18 detection systems. GSI has significantly contributed to two systems, the time projection chamber TPC and the transition radiation detector TRD.

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5.1 Cancer Therapy with Ion Beams at GSI

6.1 FAIR construction site

Follow this link to find the latest photos and videos of the FAIR construction site, e.g. the latest drone video, schowing the construction activities: Photos and videos FAIR construction site.

The dipole magnets of the future FAIR ring accelerator SIS100 will deflect the particles. In total 110 of these superconducting magnets will be installed in the accelerator ring.

At the serial test facility all superconducting magnets of the future FAIR accelerator SIS100 will be tested prior to installation. With liquid helium they are cooled to minus 269°C. Subsequently, they are tested for their capability to provide high and rapidly changing magnetic fields.