PRODUCTION OF HYDROGEN, NITROGEN AND ARGON PELLETS WITH THE MOSCOW-JÜLICH PELLET TARGET

Targets of frozen droplets ("pellets") from various liquefiable gases like H2, D2, N2, Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe are very promising for high luminosity experiments with a 4π detector geometry at storage-rings. High effective target densities (> 1015atoms/cm2), a small target size (⊘ ≈ 20–30 μm), a low gas load and a narrow pellet beam are the main advantages of such targets. Pioneering work on pellet targets has been made at Uppsala, Sweden.1 A next generation target has been built at the IKP of FZJ in collaboration with two institutes (ITEP and MPEI) from Moscow, Russia. It is a prototype for the future pellet target at the PANDA experiment at FAIR/HESR (supported by INTAS 06-1000012-8787, 2007/08) and makes use of a new cooling and liquefaction method, based on cryogenic liquids instead of cooling machines.2 The main advantages of this method are the vibration-free cooling and the possibility for cryogenic jet production from various gases in a wide range of temperatures. Different regimes of pellet production from H2, N2 and Ar have been observed and their parameters have been measured.3 For the first time, mono-disperse and satellite-free droplet production was achieved for cryogenic liquids from H2, N2 and Ar.