Institute of research into the fundamental laws of the Universe

The CHyMENE project (Cible d'Hydrogène Mince pour l'Etude des Noyaux Exotiques -Thin hydrogen target for the study of exotic nuclei) has the ambitious goal of producing a thin target of pure hydrogen, without using a container, suitable for experiments using the low-energy heavy ion beam planned for SPIRAL2.

A team from IRFU (SPhN and SACM) and from l'Inac/SBT have recently applied cryogenic techniques to successfully produce a ribbon of solid hydrogen 100 μm thick. The target will soon be tested in the beam. This will be a world first.

Below: Interview with Alain GILLIBERT, who is working on the CHyMENE project with Alexandre OBERTELLI and Emmanuel POLLACO

Start image: a solid hydrogen ribbon of extruded H2 (width 10 mm, thickness 100 μm), viewed through the porthole of the vacuum chamber (Photo V. Lapoux).