Production of rare isotope beams with aligned nuclear spins opens up new possibilities for high-energy physics research

Particle physicists routinely and incrementally test the boundaries of what is possible in physics research. Occasionally however, they achieve a breakthrough that reveals an entirely new, uncharted field of study. Researchers at RIKEN's Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory (RIBF), part of the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science, have recently made such a breakthrough with their production of a beam of spin-aligned rare isotopes.