Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) is an international accelerator and experiment facility of nuclear physics, under construction at GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung Darmstadt, Germany, and is set to be one of the largest accelerator research facilities for basic research in physics worldwide. FAIR GmbH was founded by an International treaty on 4th October 2010 and is anticipated to be operational by 2025. It will deliver beams for research in nuclear physics, hadron physics, high energy heavy ion collisions, atomic and plasma physics.

India is a founder member and the third largest shareholder in FAIR science project with Bose Institute (BI) as the shareholding institute. India’s participation is in the area of design and development of magnets, detectors and beam catchers. Indo Fair Coordination Centre at Bose Institute (BI-IFCC) facilitates the coordination of India’s participation. [http://www.fair-center.eu/partners/in-india.html].

[Beam dumps (beam stoppers or beam catchers) are primarily energy intercepting and dissipating devices. The three units of beam catchers are to be deployed in the Super-FRS beamline and have the primary function of safely stopping unwanted fragments and the primary beam alongwith the generated heat dissipation. Each beam catcher employs absorbers (copper and graphite) at their heart and a number of electro-thermo-mechanical systems e.g. the heat sinks for cooling, horizontal and vertical motion drives for precise positioning, radiation shielding, temperature sensing etc. ]

Energy deposition rate at FAIR is in the form of high density small duration pulses of steep magnitude. None of the existing solutions in the facilities worldwide can be employed and a solution has to be devised for this challenging phenomenon. The localized energy deposition density in the absorber (Bragg peak) causes the peak energy density to be as high as 300 J/g per pulse. This induces thermal shock waves in the absorbers and is one of the major challenges in design of beam catchers for this facility. Further, the removal of heat quickly and efficiently from the absorber is challenged by the huge thermal gradient compounded by material irradiation damage.