SAIP Electronic Newsletter No 20

CONTENTS:

1. A FOCUS ON IUPAP
N Chetty (chettyn@nu.ac.za) & DJ Grayson (graysondj@unisa.ac.za)

2. PHYSICS NEWS
PA Whitelock (paw@saao.ac.za)

3. SCIENCE EDUCATION IN THE USA: A POSSIBLE CAREER PATH FOR POSTDOCTORAL
FELLOWS
M Soltynski (Maciej@netactive.co.za)

4. SCIENCE EDUCATION IN SA: A CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
DJ Grayson (graysondj@unisa.ac.za)

5. FUN IN THE SUN: A(NOTHER) SOLAR ECLIPSE ON ITS WAY
MF Gaylard (mike@hartrao.ac.za)

6.CAPE MATERIALS AND MANUFACTURING INITIATIVE
D Britton (DTB@physci.uct.ac.za)

7. STUDYING THE EARTH WITH A RADIO TELESCOPE
MF Gaylard (mike@hartrao.ac.za)

8. NEWS FROM THE COUNCIL
J Padayachee (jpadayachee@bonbon.net)

9. COSMONAUT VISITS DURBAN FOR DUSTY PLASMA CONFERENCE
M Hellberg (hellberg@nu.ac.za)

10. AN UNIQUE SOUTH AFRICAN RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY
JM Carter (carter@physnet.phys.wits.ac.za) & FD Smit (smit@tlabs.ac.za)

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1. A FOCUS ON IUPAP

The 24th International Union for Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP)
General Assembly (GA) was held at the Humboldt University in
Berlin, Germany from 08 until 12 October 2002. Dr Nithaya Chetty
(UNP) and Prof Diane Grayson (UNISA) represented South Africa as
voting delegates. Prof Edmund Zingu attended the GA in his
capacity as Vice-president of the IUPAP and as chairperson of
C13 (Physics for Development).

The adhering body in South Africa is the IUPAP South African
Liaison Committee, administered by the NRF.  The chairperson
is E. Zingu and the members are R. Bharuthram, N. Chetty,
J.W.A Cleymans, D.J. Grayson, W.D. Heiss, H. Moraal,
Nevatalu (NRF), Z.Z. Vilakazi and Pillay (secretariat). The local
Liaison Committee resolved at its last meeting to publicize
more the activities of IUPAP. The SAIP electronic newsletter is
only one such medium that is being considered to propagate
the aims of the IUPAP. See also the IUPAP web site, www.iupap.org

There are eighteen (no 1 or 7) commissions of the IUPAP
covering the many disciplines of physics (e.g. C9 on Magnetism,
C16 on Plasma Physics, etc.) In addition, there are a number of
inter-union committees that involve other international
organizations such as IUPAC, ICSU, etc. The IUPAP has formed a
number of working committees such as the Working Group on Women
in Physics, the Working Group on Communications in Physics, etc.

Each commission sponsors conferences and involves itself with issues
related to furthering the respective disciplines. We believe that it is
important that members of the physics community in South Africa become
involved in their respective commissions, which is a vital means of
furthering the various disciplines of physics in our country. At the GA,

five South Africans were elected to serve on their commissions – these
are Grayson (C14 Physics Education), Whitelock (C19 Astrophysics),
Zingu (chair C13 Physics for development), Potgieter (C4 Cosmic Rays)
and Bharuthram (vice chair C16 Plasma Physics). Zingu continues to serve

as one of eight vice-presidents of IUPAP.

South Africa has three shares in the IUPAP that accords it two votes.
Each
share costs R17 000. By comparison, the USA and Russia have eighteen
shares
each, Sweden has eight, and India and Brazil each have four. A number of

countries are in arrears, including France. Kenya lost its membership
because of nonpayment for the past several years. Egypt remains the only

other African member of IUPAP. Countries from the developing world are
being encouraged to form regional adhering bodies for membership to
IUPAP. Countries also have the option to pay a lower subscription fee
for
a restricted membership that does not include voting rights.

At the recent GA, the following key points were made:

The year 2005 has been declared the World Year of Physics (WYP). This
will
be 100 years since Einstein formulated the theory of Special Relativity.

2005 also happens to be the 50th anniversary of the SAIP. South Africa
should plan on celebrating physics nationally in 2005.  We should
also consider making a bid to host the 2005 IUPAP General Assembly and
piggy-backing it on the SAIP 50th anniversary conference.

We learnt that the German Physical Society (GPS) declared a year of
physics
in 2000. There was substantial involvement by physicists in all aspects
of
life in Germany. They have measured a 25% increase in students pursuing
physics at the undergraduate institutions over the past two years
averaged
over more than 80 universities.

As part of their celebration, the GPS has published a book entitled
“Physics
Research: topics, significance and prospects”. The book is described as
a
report to society, policy-makers and industry. This is an excellent
selling tool for physics, and consideration should be given by the SAIP
to develop something similar albeit on a smaller, more appropriate
scale. A copy of the report can be borrowed from N. Chetty.

The mandate of the Working Group on Women in Physics was extended for
another three years. The proceedings of the Conference on Women in
Physics may be viewed at http://www.if.ufrgs.br/~barbosa/women.html. At
the General Assembly a resolution was passed that was based on the
belief
that “it is important to physics to bring more women into its mainstream

and leadership.”  In the resolution IUPAP urged the development of
policies and procedures to promote equal opportunities and freedom from
gender bias for girls and women in primary and secondary schools,
colleges and universities, research institutes and industry, scientific
and professional societies, national governments and funding agencies.
All institutions were also called on to re-examine their policies with
respect to family-oriented practices and policies. Furthermore, it was
recommended that “adhering bodies appoint women to liaison committees,
that gender be a consideration in nominations to commissions and the
council, and expects that IUPAP sponsored conferences to have women
as members of their program committees.

The Working Group on Facilities for Condensed Matter Physics was
tasked with investigating the status of neutron sources and the
projected needs for the future.

A new Working Group on Energy was formed to investigate energy as a new
priority area. This is in line with decisions made by ICSU
(International Council for Scientific Unions) and also with resolutions
taken by the WSSD (World Summit on Sustainable Development). The use of
nuclear energy as a source of sustainable energy was discussed at
length. It is up to physicists to allay the concerns of the public
about the possible hazards in the use of nuclear fuel. According to
Bernard Frois (France) who reported on the ICSU Energy Forum, the
safe containment of nuclear waste is now fully under control, but
can we convince the public? On the other hand, one of arguments for
nuclear energy is that the world will not be able to meet energy
demands in the future without it.  This prediction is based on
the assumption that western nations will continue to demand high levels
of
energy, much of which is wasted (in excessive climate control and
petrol-hungry vehicles, for example).  A more balanced view was
presented
in an invited lecture by Heinloth (Germany), who stressed the importance

of using and developing a variety of energy sources.

The out-going president of the IUPAP, Burton Richter (USA), focused on
“Physics for Sustainable Development” and “Ethics in Physics” in his
address. In our conversations with the new President, Yves Petroff
(France), it seems that the development of physics in the Developing
World is going to receive his highest attention. Here South Africa
have an opportunity to help lead the way in championing the cause
of physics in the Developing World. In so doing, we cannot help
but strengthen our discipline in our country. For example, the
fact the many African countries cannot seem to pay their IUPAP
membership dues should become our cause of concern.

The Working Group on Communications in Physics focused almost
entirely on the electronic medium. The challenge here is to define
formats that are universal and which can still be accessed 100
years from now – it does not take long for one to comprehend the
difficulty of the task as we battle today to work with different
computer architectures, operating systems, document formats,
different versions of all of the above, etc.

As mentioned above, one of the problems faced by developing countries
as far as IUPAP membership is concerned is the high affiliation
fees.  The GA was unwilling to make any concessions that would
allow full participation without paying full fees, such as raising
sponsorship.  One of the suggestions made by Edmund Zingu in his
presentation on Physics for Development was that more wealthy
countries could “adopt” a country, but there was no response to this
proposal.  Another problem is low internet connectivity.
To address this problem, the International Centre for
Theoretical Physics has developed software called web4mail that
allow scientists in developing countries to request webpages of
journal articles and receive them by e-mail.  Another activity that
should be promoted is to not only bring scientists from developing
countries to developed countries to work and study, but also to send
scientists from the developed countries to work in the developing
countries.  In this way they could experience what it is like to work
under severe resource constraints and possibly help local
colleagues to do so more effectively.

Since the last General Assembly the International Commission on
Physics Education (ICPE) helped to sponsor 6 conferences on
aspects of Physics Education.  These conferences were held in China,
Brazil, Spain, South Korea, Philippines and Sweden.  The
conferences had different focuses, including physics teacher
education, cultural contexts of physics education, computers
and information technology in physics education and new fields of
physics.  The commission identified five changes which physics
educators need to respond to, namely changes in physics as a subject,
changes in interest in studying physics, changes in
the goals of physics education, changes in the research base
for science education and the pace of change.  The attitude of the
commission is that all physicists have a responsibility for
improving physics education, including physics curricula and
the training of physics teachers.  The ICPE has sponsored two
publications.  One is a book entitled “Connecting Research in
Physics education with Teacher Education”
(http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~jossem/ICPE/BOOKS/TOC.html).
The other is a book entitled “Physics 2000: Physics as it enters
the new millennium”, which is a compendium of reviews by 21 leading
physicists representing all the commissions of
IUPAP (http://iupap.org/reports.html).

------------------------------------------

2. PHYSICS NEWS

Physics News Update, published by the American Institute of Physics is a

digest of physics news items arising from physics meetings, physics
journals, newspapers and magazines, and other news sources.  Although
read
by many scientists, teachers, students, and members of the general
public,
Physics News Update is intended chiefly as a means of alerting science
journalists to recent or upcoming physics research highlights,
especially
(but not necessarily) if they are associated with AIP journals or those
of the AIP member societies. Past issues of Update, as well as figures
and
links to various physics websites can be obtained at these websites:

www.aip.org/physnews/update,
www.aip.org/physnews/links,
www.aip.org/mgr/png.

By sending a message to  listserv@listserv.aip.org you can add or delete

your email address from our distribution list by using the expression
"subscribe physnews" or "signoff physnews" in your e-mail message.

Please direct all questions pertaining to the PHYSNEWS listserver to the

following address: physnews-request@listserv.aip.org

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3. SCIENCE EDUCATION IN THE USA: A POSSIBLE CAREER PATH FOR POSTDOCTORAL
FELLOWS

A national fellowship program should be created to attract recent
recipients
of science doctorates to high school teaching and other education
positions,
says a new report from the National Academies' National Research
Council. The
proposed effort is needed to help improve science instruction at a time
when U.S. student achievement in those subjects often trails that of
students
in other industrialized countries.

The report is the culmination of the second part of a three-phase
project
undertaken by the Research Council in response to several concurrent
trends,
including a projected shortage of 2 million elementary and secondary
teachers
over the next decade and a shrinking pool of permanent research
positions for
postdoctoral scholars. The purpose of the project is to examine the
feasibility of recent Ph.D.s becoming more deeply involved in science
education.

During the first phase, recent graduates were surveyed to explore their
interests in pursuing careers in secondary education. Data analysis
revealed a
high level of interest among a significant percentage of the survey
respondents.

Through their experiences as scientists, Ph.D.s acquire expertise in and

passion for their disciplines, insights into learning through discovery,

facility with the use of information technology, and strong connections
to
higher education and professional societies. With proper preparation,
they
could gain the additional skills and knowledge to become effective
teachers
and leaders in the effort to improve teaching and learning, the report
says.
The proposed fellowship program would provide the preparation necessary
for teacher certification, including time spent working in a teaching
environment, and serve as a bridge between secondary and higher
education. It
would last two years, and fellows could expect to see a stipend of
about $35,000 per year. A national program would support all fellows
during
their first year. The schools in which the fellows work as part of their

teacher education would be expected to pay their stipends and benefits
in
the second year.

The third and final phase of the project would be a thorough evaluation
of a
demonstration program to determine how well it works and provide
information
on whether a full- scale, ongoing program is warranted.

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4. SCIENCE EDUCATION IN SA: A CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

Prof Diane Grayson from Unisa has been invited to attend a regional
workshop
of the Asian Physics Education Network during the first week of December
to
present a paper on physics education in Southern Africa. Any
suggestions,
links, papers, etc that should be included in this presentation should
be
send to graysdj@unisa.ac.za.

------------------------------------------

5. FUN IN THE SUN: A(NOTHER) SOLAR ECLIPSE ON ITS WAY

The forthcoming solar eclipse on 4 Dec 2002 provides an opportunity for
physicists to promote science understanding and awareness amongst the
public. As the eclipse will affect all of Southern Africa to a greater
or lesser extent, it is important that all physicists and their students

be able to impart accurate information about it.  These pupils and
students can become vectors for disseminating information about the
eclipse in their communities.

Past experience at HartRAO shows that most pupils and students have a
very poor understanding of the basic concepts of the Earth-Moon system
orbiting the Sun and how this leads to the the seasons, the phases of
the
moon and so on.  The diagrams found it text books are often not
understood,
where simple 3-D models provide almost instant comprehension.  For
example, if one stands in the Sun and uses one fist held at arms length
to represent the Moon, turning in a circle will result in the
Sun's lighting of the fist showing the same phases as the Moon does.

Information on the eclipse can be found at:

http://www.hartrao.ac.za/other/eclipse2002/index.html
http://www.fest.org.za/eclipse_activities.html;

and

http://www.hartrao.ac.za/news/020708eclwkshp/eclwkshp.html
http://www.hartrao.ac.za/news/020708eclwkshp/eclwkphotos.html

show the demonstrations and activities HartRAO uses to explain the
eclipse.

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6. CAPE MATERIALS AND MANUFACTURING INITIATIVE


In South Africa, as well as internationally, the funding environment
is changing rapidly, as is the structure of teaching and research in
tertiary institutions. There are now many opportunities, which either
require coordinated strategic efforts or cross-disciplinary
collaborations, often extending beyond the higher education sector.
This is particularly true of Materials and Manufacturing, which has
been comprehensively reviewed in the recent Foresight exercise, and
is now the focus of a national strategic initiative.

At the present time, the Western Cape is well-placed to develop a
regional initiative. Several local institutions (e.g. UCT) have their
own strategic thrusts or initiatives in place to develop their
activities. In addition there is a strong local manufacturing
industry, mainly concentrated in hi-tech and niche area SMEs. Some of
these are directly associated with University science parks (e.g.
US). Besides existing inter-institutional collaborations, there are
also a number of fora (e.g. Western Cape Materials Forum) linking
researchers at various institutions. The aim of a regional initiative
is not to replace or supercede any of these other bodies or
activities. Each has a well defined role, and they are already
important stakeholders. All should become major role players in
developing the initiative further.

An informal working group met with a representative of the PAWC
Department of Business Promotion and Tourism on 27th August 2002.
PAWC are willing to extend some level of support to the initiative.
This includes the provision of a coordinator, who will report
directly to PAWC, and who will be involved in the organisation and
hosting of a formal launch workshop in early 2003.

The Cape Materials and Manufacturing Initiative working group are:
M. Harting, UCT
R. Knutsen, UCT
R.D. Sanderson, US
V. Linkov, UWC
D.T. Britton, UCT
D. Knoesen, UWC
N. Gwynne-Evans, PAWC

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7. STUDYING THE EARTH WITH A RADIO TELESCOPE

It may come as a surprise to some, but radio telescopes are used to
study
the Earth.  The 26-m telescope at Hartebeesthoek embarked on an
intensive,
two-week campaign called "CONT02" on 2002 October 16, as part of a
global
network of radio telescopes participating in this study.

The aim is to provide data on timescales of days down to hours, which
the
normal weekly to fortnightly 24-hour experiments cannot provide.

The data obtained by observing quasars near the edge of the visible
universe are reduced to provide Earth orientation parameters such as
tides
in the solid Earth, polar motion, and variations in the length of day
caused by changes in the winds.

For more information see:

CONT02 experiment:
http://www.hartrao.ac.za/news/021016cont02/cont02.html

Space Geodesy at HartRAO:
http://www.hartrao.ac.za/geodesy/geodesy_index.html

Overview of HartRAO:
http://www.hartrao.ac.za/summary/sumeng.html
http://www.hartrao.ac.za/summary/sumafr.html

International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry:
http://ivscc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ivs.html

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8. NEWS FROM THE COUNCIL

8.1.  Minutes of Recent Meetings
The minutes of the following meetings will be available at:
http://www.sun.ac.za/physics/saip/council.htm
8.1.1.Council meeting held on 23 September 2002 at PU for CHE
8.1.2.  Council meeting with Specialist Group chairs held on 26
September
2002
8.1.3.  2002 AGM

8.2.  Membership Matters
Prof. Manfred Hellberg and Prof. Bouke Spoelstra were awarded Honorary
Membership of the SAIP.  The award was made at the recent conference
banquet.  Congratulations!

8.2.1.  The following new members are welcomed to the SAIP:
Mr. K. Govender (A)
Ms. V.A. McBride (A)
Mrs. J. Kriek (O)
Miss. N.J. Ncapayi (S)
Mr. D.B. Fish (O)
Ms. S Buchner (O)
Mr L.L. Viljoen (S)
Mnr J.E. Westraadt (S)
Mr H.H. Oosthuizen (S)
Mnr U. Van Antwerpen (S)
Miss N.N. Nkonki (S)
Prof. A.R.W. Hughes (O)
Mr. A. Mawire (O)
Dr. V. Sankaran (O)
Mr. B.H. Bartlett (S)
Mr. L. Boonzaaier (S)

8.2.2.  Did you know that members of the SAIP who, on retirement from an

active scientific career have been members of the SAIP for a minimum
period
of 15 years may apply to Council for Emeritus Membership?  If you think
that you satisfy this criteria, please contact the Secretary.

8.2.3.  Membership Fees
Members are reminded to please pay their membership fees, if they have
not
already done so.  Contact the Treasurer (Prof. Japie Engelbrecht,
phajae@upe.ac.za) for details of amounts owing and how payment may be
made.

8.3.  De Beers Gold Medal
The De Beers Gold Medal for 2002 was awarded to Prof. Dieter Heiss
(Stellenbosch) for his work on Theoretical Physics.  Congratulations
Prof.
Heiss!

8.4.  Reports Available
The following reports are now available on the SAIP web site.
http://www.sun.ac.za/physics/saip/reports.htm
Please send comments to the Secretary before 15 December 2002.
8.4.1. Report by the Transformation Committee
8.4.2.  Report on the State of Physics in South Africa

8.5.  International Physics Olympiad
The report by Case Rijsdijk on the 2002 International Physics Olympiad
is
available on the SAIP web site.
http://www.sun.ac.za/physics/saip/reports.htm

8.6.  Please send information on conferences, workshops, vacancies, etc
to
the Secretary so that it may be put up onto the SAIP web site.

-----------------------------------

9. COSMONAUT VISITS DURBAN FOR DUSTY PLASMA CONFERENCE

The 3rd International Conference on the Physics of Dusty Plasmas
(ICPDP-2002) was held in Durban from 20 to 24 May, 2002.

The conference was hosted by the University of Natal and the University
of Durban-Westville, and was attended by about 120 delegates, of whom
more than 100 were foreign.  The 24 countries represented ranged
(alphabetically) from Algeria to Yugoslavia, and included Rwanda and
Bangladesh, as well as the major research countries.  The Conference was

opened by Dr Rob Adam, Director-General of DACST, on behalf of Minister
Ben Ngubane.

Dusty (also called complex) plasmas are characterized by the fact that,
embedded in the usual plasma, one has "dust" grains - particles of
significant mass and charge, typically micrometer in size, with a charge

of order 10**4 e. This additional component has a strong effect on the
plasma behaviour, particularly because the grains do not have a constant

charge, but are subject to charging processes.  Dusty plasmas occur
widely in nature, and early work (1980's) related to the study of
planetary rings. A feature of this rapidly growing interdisciplinary
research field is the wide variety of recent laboratory studies, in
particular in relation to dusty plasma crystal studies (see below).

The participants included Cosmonaut Yuri Baturin who accompanied Denis
Tito on his flight to the International Space Station in March 2001, and

looked after the first scientific experiment that was carried out on the

ISS (see below).  While in Durban, Baturin was interviewed by the media,

and also visited two schools, at each of which several hundred pupils
and science teachers were brought together from the local area, to hear
him speak about his experiences and the importance of science studies
(not to mention his colleague Mark Shuttleworth!).

The Conference consisted of 5 Overview lectures, 8 Topical Review
lectures, 2 Summary lectures at the end of the Conference, 36 Oral
presentations and 80 posters.

Three of the Overview papers were on dusty plasmas in astrophysics and
cosmology (Sedlmayr - Berlin), in the solar system (Horanyi - Boulder),
and in the ionosphere and atmosphere (Havnes - Tromso).  The others
covered dusty plasmas in industry (Kroesen - Eindhoven) and strongly
coupled dusty plasmas - so-called complex plasmas (Fortov - Moscow).
The latter topic relates to a state in which the (negatively-charged)
dust grains form Coulomb crystals (e.g. bcc, fcc, hcp and hexagonal
cylinder structures) as a result of the subtle interplay between the
grains and the plasma, leading to attraction between the particles.

With the aid of laser sheet illumination, the grains are made visible,
and with relatively long timescales, this state becomes a very useful
model system for experiments on, for instance, waves, shocks and
solitons,  the formation of Mach cones as grains are nudged by laser
beams, processes of agglomeration on the nanoscale, the kinetics of
crystal formation and of melting, etc.

A particularly exciting feature of the conference was the set of papers
presenting results from the joint German-Russian PKE-Nefedov experiment
carried out under microgravity on board the ISS since March 2001.  Here
PKE stands for PlasmaKristallExperiment, and Nefedov was the Russian PI
who tragically died a month or two before lift-off.  Under microgravity
conditions, for instance, 3-dimensional crystalline regions can develop
(although current studies also reveal the formation of a void in the
centre of the system) and one can also study the "surface tension" at
the interface between two clouds of particles of different size.

The Conference Proceedings will appear shortly in the Conference series
published by the American Institute of Physics.

A limited number of complimentary copies of the Proceedings will be
available, and institutions who have an interest in receiving a copy
should please contact Hellberg@nu.ac.za.

-----------------------------------

9. A UNIQUE SOUTH AFRICAN RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY

The K600 magnetic spectrometer was commissioned in 1992/3 as a major
facility for nuclear structure experiments using the Separated Sector
Cyclotron (SSC) of the National Accelerator Centre (now iThemba LABS).
Since then a number of research projects have been undertaken. In
particular, extensive use has been made by the Wits/Darmstadt/iThemba
collaboration. This on-going collaboration was started in the early
1990’s
by Professor John Carter (School of Physics, Wits University) and the
group
of Professor Achim Richter from the Nuclear Physics Institute, Technical

University (TU), Darmstadt, Germany, together with the Nuclear Physics
Group of iThemba LABS. The collaboration has resulted in several
experiments
being undertaken at the iThemba LABS (iTL). The main theme of the work
has
been the investigation of giant resonance excitation in atomic nuclei.
The
latest experiment entitled “Fine Structure of Giant Resonances in
Closed-
Shell Nuclei as a Test of the Doorway Picture” K600 magnetic
spectrometer
over a period of four weeks in September/October 2001. Participating
in this work were colleagues from the TU Darmstadt and from the
University
of Osaka, Japan. In addition, Professor Fujita, an expert on magnetic
spectrometers, was able to provide valuable insight into methods for
achieving the high energy-resolution spectra required for the
experimental
investigation at the iTL.

The design of the K600 magnetic spectrometer at the iTL followed closely

that of the one at Indiana University Cyclotron Facility (IUCF).
However, the
magnetic spectrometer at IUCF was dismantled a few years ago leaving the

present one at the iTL as one of two high energy-resolution
spectrometers
of its kind worldwide for medium energy experiments. The Grand Raiden
magnetic
spectrometer of the RCNP laboratory, Osaka, is the other high
energy-resolution
instrument but is routinely used in an incident projectile energy region

above the medium energy beams available at the iTL.  In addition, the
K600
magnetic spectrometer at the iTL has some truly unique features that put
it
into a class of its own. A range of new and interesting physics can be
addressed using the K600 magnetic spectrometer, much of which is at the
fore
front of nuclear structure physics and is capturing the attention of the

international nuclear physics community as seen at many of the recent
international conferences.

Central to the study of giant resonance excitation is the
complementarity
between different exciting probes. Since the 1970’s the electron
scattering
studies pursued by Professor Achim Richter have provided a definitive
investigative role using a leptonic probe. This work was complemented in

the early 1990’s by the studies at the iTL using a hadronic probe. It
now
transpires that the facility available at the iTL is the only one
capable
of fully complementing the high energy-resolution experiments at the
S-DALINAC
electron accelerator of the Institut fuer Kernphysik, TU Darmstadt.

In order to fully exploit the capabilities of the K600 magnetic
spectrometer
and maintain it as world-class instrument capable of attracting
physicists
from overseas laboratories the following developments have taken place.

Firstly, as was demonstrated in the September/October 2001 experiment
work,
the “Faint Beam Method” of energy resolution optimization developed by
Professor Fujita at RCNP, Osaka, has to be implemented. This was done
during
the last months. It involves reducing the intensity of the incoming beam

by inserting meshes, which enables the magnetic spectrometer to be
placed at
zero degrees for observing the incident beam itself. Suitable meshes
obtained from RCNP, Osaka, can now be inserted into the proton beam
coming
from the ECR source before being directed into the Solid Pole Cyclotron
2
which acts as an injector into the SSC.  Momentum dispersion matching of

the incident beam can then be optimized without the complicating target
effects. With the aid of this diagnostic tool the design limit of less
than 20 keV energy resolution will be realizable for incident 200 MeV
protons. Tests conducted already for 66 MeV protons produced a
resolution
of 5 keV FWHM measured for the faint beam directed into the
spectrometer,
with a resolution of 9 keV for elastic scattering at 10 degrees from a
thin gold target. It should be noted that in a recent experiment the
best
achieved was 30 keV and that it was difficult to maintain this
resolution
for long periods of time. Development at 200 MeV is scheduled for mid
November 2002.

Secondly, the inclusion of the second x-axis vertical drift chamber at
the
focal plane of the magnetic spectrometer allowed for the necessary ray
tracing to be achieved for the “Faint Beam Method”.

Thirdly, there will be a need for a y-axis drift chamber in order to
measure the azimuthal angle with reasonable accuracy. This becomes
important for measurements at zero degrees where the azimuthal angle
definition is as important as the polar angle.

This unique South African research facility is an excellent graduate
educational tool for nuclear physics as it exposes students to a wide
variety of experimental tools such as wire chambers, magnets,
time-of-flight, scintillators and data analysis to name but a few. In
conclusion, the K600 magnetic spectrometer can meet the challenge of the

physics requirements, both from the research and post-graduate student
teaching points of view, together with the regular exchange of
physicists
between South Africa and the institutions of our collaborators.

--
Dr EC Mortimer
Materials Research Group
iThemba LABS
POBox 722
ZA-7129 SOMERSET WEST

Phone: Int + (0)21 843 1153
Fax: Int + (0)21 843 3543