South Korea and Japan will embark on collaborative research to clarify the origins of cosmic elements.
The Institute for Basic Science (IBS) announced it will hold the Korea-Japan Rare Isotope Science International Symposium on the 16th in collaboration with the RIKEN.
This symposium is part of the 'Collaborative Research Support Project for Establishing a Cooperation Platform among Top-Tier Research Institutions.' The Top-Tier project is a program by the Ministry of Science and ICT that supports the establishment of a continuous cooperation system between world-class research institutions and outstanding domestic research institutions. IBS was selected for the Top-Tier project in July with the 'Establishment of an International Cooperation Platform for Extreme Rare Isotope Science.'
In this project, IBS, Seoul National University, Korea University, and the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute will participate from South Korea. In Japan, under RIKEN's leadership, the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization and the Tokyo University Research Center for Nuclear Science will be involved. To support this project, IBS has established the 'International Cooperation Project Team for Extreme Rare Isotope Science' at the Heavy Ion Accelerator Research Institute and appointed Shin Taek-soo, head of the experimental equipment division at IBS, as the project team leader.
Rare isotope science is a field that generates unknown rare isotopes, which are hard to find in nature, using heavy ion accelerators and explores their properties. This research leads to studies on the origins of cosmic elements or the application of new materials and semiconductors using new radioactive isotopes, as well as research in nuclear medicine.
This project will be conducted in three phases over 3 years, 4 years, and 3 years, respectively. The first phase involves the generation of ISOL rare isotopes using the first uranium carbide (UCx) target in Asia, the second phase focuses on research into the world’s first ISOL-IF linked rare isotope generation method using Raon, and the third phase aims to discover new extreme rare isotopes. ISOL operates by causing nuclear fission when a light beam collides with a heavy target to generate rare isotopes.
IBS Director Noh Do-young said, "This international collaborative research project with RIKEN is the first step for our country's extreme rare isotope science, which began with the heavy ion accelerator Raon and rare nuclear research group, moving towards the world. I am proud that Korea's heavy ion accelerator Raon will be utilized alongside Japan's leading heavy ion accelerator RIBF as a collaborative research platform for rare isotope science among top scientists from both countries."