CASPAR - Compact Accelerator System for Performing Astrophysical Research
Over the past years the CASPAR (Compact Accelerator System for Performing Astrophysical Research)
laboratory has been constructed at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF). The facility
was built and equipped with support through the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority, the South Dakota
School of Mines & Technology, and the University of Notre Dame. Science operation is supported by the National
Science Foundation. CASPAR operates a 1MV, high intensity, fully refurbished
Van-de-Graaff accelerator that can provide α beam intensities of several hundred micro-Ampere.
The CASPAR laboratory will allow US scientists direct access to an underground accelerator and is
a first step to a broader range facility as envisioned by the long range plan document.
Successful implementation of a science program at CASPAR will offer a competitive opportunity for
the US nuclear astrophysics community to maintain leadership in the field.
The CASPAR accelerator laboratory is located at Ross Campus on the 4850 ft level of the former Homestake
Gold Mine in South Dakota's Black Hills, almost a mile underground.
The project is a joint effort of the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, the University of Notre Dame,
and the Colorado School of Mines, and an official Ribbon Cutting Ceremony to celabrate the production
of the first undeground ion beam in the U.S. took place on July 12th, 2017.
Principal Investigator of the CASPAR project and contact:
Department of Physics
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
501 E. Saint Joseph St., SD 57701, USA
E-mail:
frank.strieder@sdsmt.edu
Phone:+1-605-394-1227
Funded by:
