Opportunities and Challenges of the General Purpose Spectrometer Specific to Multinucleon Transfer Reactions at HIAF

The study on the nuclear structure and exotic decay property of neutron-rich nuclides is an important subject in nuclear physics research. In the ongoing big project HIAF (High Intensity heavy-ion Accelerator Facility), a general purpose spectrometer specific to the multinucleon transfer reactions is being designed and will be constructed. In this spectrometer, the researches will be concentrated on synthesis and identification of new neutron-rich nuclides, and on the study of their nuclear structure and decay properties. In this paper, the motivation, conceptual design and working principle of this spectrometer have been introduced, and the opportunities and challenges in the construction have been discussed briefly. Unlike the fusion evaporation and projectile fragmentation reaction products which are emitted in forward directions near 0° in laboratory frame, the outgoing angles of the products from multinucleon transfer reactions cover a wide range of 25° ~80°, thus it is very difficult to collect and separate those products of interest. The requirements of high beam rate, high transmission efficiency and high transport speed make the gas cell be very challenging in design and construction. The gas cell is the key component for the success of this spectrometer.