A new beam-extraction system considerably extends the capabilities of the unique Nuclotron accelerator at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna near Moscow. In the past several years the Nuclotron has provided circulating beams of hydrogen, deuterium, helium, carbon and krypton nuclei inside its 250 m superconducting ring with an energy up to 4.2 GeV per nucleon and an intensity of up to 1011 particles per second (for light nuclei).
Initial experiments used targets inside the ring, but the construction of a special system for beam extraction to external detectors is now complete. Last year the system was tested and first extraction of proton beam from the ring achieved.
March saw the second full-scale Nuclotron run with the new nuclear beam-extraction system. The parameters of an extracted deuterium beam with the intensity above 109 particles per second were studied and the beam was supplied to several experiments. The new data are being processed.
The Nuclotron beam-extraction system opens up new horizons for physics research. The Nuclotron construction and physics research are in the framework of a wider international collaboration among the JINR member states.
