About HIRA

Heavy Ion Reaction Analyzer (HIRA) is one of few recoil mass spectrometers (RMS) in the world and first of its kind in Asia. HIRA is dedicated to the study of heavy ion induced nuclear reaction dynamics and can operate in the direction of primary beam. Efficient rejection of primary beam and transportation of reaction products to the focal plane with mass identification are the forte of HIRA. It is based on symmetric [electrostatic dipole]-[magnetic dipole]-[electrostatic dipole] (ED-MD-ED) configuration (first used in Rochester RMS design), with two quadrupole doublets placed before and after the first and last electrostatic dipoles. Space focus (in both dispersive and non-dispersive planes) and energy achromaticity are obtained at the focal plane with variable mass dispersion. The ion-optical parameters of ED-MD-ED combination of HIRA are unique and quite different from other existing recoil mass spectrometers.

In case of heavy ion induced complete fusion reactions in normal kinematics, HIRA rejects primary beam particles and multi-nucleon transfer reaction products, transports the evaporation residue to the focal plane and disperses them as per mass (m/q to be precise) values.

HIRA is being used for a wide variety of nuclear physics experiments exploiting its ability to study weak reaction channels at forward angles [ more... ].

HIRA has also been used, in mass focus ion optical mode, for the production of ultra-pure, low energy ⁷Be beam [ more... ].