THE MSU/NSCL RE-ACCELERATOR ReA3*

The National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) at Michigan State University (MSU) is currently constructing its new reaccelerated beam facility: ReA3. ReA3 will provide unique low-energy rare isotope beams by stopping fast rare isotopes in gas stopping systems and reaccelerating them in a compact linac. The main components, which will be explained in this paper, are a linear cryogenic gas cell to stop the fast beams produced by projectile fragmentation, an Electron Beam Ion Trap (EBIT) charge state booster, a room temperature Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) and a linac utilizing superconducting quarter wave resonators. An achromatic beam transport and distribution line towards the new experimental area will complete ReA3. Beams from ReA3 will range in energy from 0.3 to 6 MeV/u: the maximum energy is 3 MeV/u for heavy nuclei such as uranium, and 6 MeV/u for ions with A<50, as the charge state of the ions can be adjusted by the EBIT. ReA3 will provide pioneering beams for nuclear physics research, initially using beams from the Coupled Cyclotron Facility at NSCL and later providing reacceleration capability for the next-generation rare isotope facility FRIB that will be hosted at MSU. The ReA3 concept and status of ReA3 are presented, with particular emphasis on the superconducting linac.