ABSTRACT
The Reaction Product Mass Separator (RPMS) which is operational at MSU was designed and constructed to separate and permit the study of isotopes produced by the heavy ion beams from the superconducting cyclotrons at the NSCL. The most unique feature of the RPMS is that it is the only one of the triple-focussing mass separators designed for heavy ion energies above about 5 MeV/u. With heavy ion beams a variety of reaction mechanisms are available to make and study rare and new isotopes. The initial experiments with the RPMS have used a 30 MeV/u O beam on targets of Be and Ta to measure the yields and lifetimes of neutron rich light isotopes. The feasibility of such experiments with higher energy heavy ion beams was demonstrated originally by Murphy, et al. at the LBL Bevalac.
