ACTAR: the New Generation of Active Targets

ACTAR is a new active target/time‐projection chamber, designed for reaction and decay studies with nuclei far from stability. This class of instruments, initially developed for high‐energy physics, has found profitable applications in medium‐ and low‐energy nuclear physics as shown by a successful series of experiments. ACTAR builds on this experience to go beyond, incorporating developments in gas detector technology and a newly‐designed electronic system of unprecedented scale in our research domain, to exploit the opportunities offered by the upcoming radioactive ion beams facilities.