Out of This World

Sarah Coakley

The cyclotron here at Michigan State University produces isotopes that are out of this world, literally.

The National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) is a rare research facility, one of three facilities in the world and the second ranked graduate Nuclear Science Program in the United States. It contains two cyclotrons, which are particle accelerators that use high frequency and alternating voltage to accelerate the proton and neutron to speeds half the speed of light.
      
“This is essentially an isotope factory,” explained Zach Constan, outreach coordinator.

The scientists at the cyclotron are looking to produce unusual isotopes that don’t exist on Earth and have an extremely short life span. In the fall, researchers at the NSCL discovered three new magnesium and aluminum
isotopes.

“People didn’t even know that those existed,” explained Geoff Koch, the lab communication manager.

The cyclotron is made up of 750 researchers from 100 institutions and 35 countries. Funded by the National Science Foundation and MSU, the cyclotron runs 24/7 when an experiment is in process. Every hour the beam is on is roughly equal to $3,000. Because it is so expensive, in order to research you must submit an application. Advisory committees of scientists review the application, and then grant an appropriate amount of beam time.

“All grad students have been here at 3 a.m.,” Constan explained. “A lot of pizzas have been ordered here.”

The cyclotron takes many precautions in an effort to keep the building as safe as possible. Some safety precautions are: sticky doormats placed around the cyclotron that pick up any possible radioactive substances that could be on shoes, six-feet-thick cement walls and doors that cannot be opened while a radioactive experiment is going on.

“We have not had an accident in four years,” said Constan. “The accident was someone slipping and falling in the parking lot.”

Koch explained how it is important for the state of Michigan to contain productive places like the NSCL.

 “We help to educate 10 percent of doctoral students in nuclear physics,” he said.

The machines that are used in the cyclotron cannot always be bought. So, also inside the cyclotron is a machine shop where parts and machines are made or fixed.

“It is a range of skilled trade workers to professional engineers who work in the shop,” said Koch. “Sometimes you can’t just order what you need.”

The cyclotron needs many different kinds of jobs to make it run correctly. Bridget Cox, a sophomore at MSU, works in the electronics department, mainly in the stockroom.

“I organize the stockroom by updating or labeling drawers, organizing paperwork, making a directory of parts and their locations, keeping track of what stocks are low and ordering them and if need be and calling companies to get information on prices and manufacture numbers,” she explained. “Sometimes I work outside the stock room when I have to help pull cable, which means I connect a cable to one contraption and pull it up through the above racks to either a power source or another contraption.”

She explained that working at the cyclotron is greatly helping out her future and giving her experience: “I am becoming more familiar with computer programs, and I use a variety of tools to take apart and put together objects; I’ve gained a combination of office management skills along with mechanical skills.”

Questions? Comments? Contact Sarah Coakley at coakley2@msu.edu