1. Technical news:

· A GPS target change has been performed following the new procedures in accordance with the new front-end design and computer controls.

· Leak tests are ongoing in order to put the beam lines in a working condition.

· A hands-on demonstration on the PVSS vacuum controls was conducted on Monday. However, there will be a second one scheduled at a later date, due to some issues. For instance, the general user will simply need to open and close valves and check the vacuum in different sections of the ISOLDE beam lines, but it is not clear which login credentials should be used.

· The GPS target was put at 60kV. There have been some concerns if it would stand the HT, as damage has been detected on the corresponding Boris tube during the maintenance. This test is an indication that the repairs may have worked and the highest beam energy might be available at GPS this year. However, further tests are needed under more realistic conditions.

· An ion beam has been produced at HRS and guided to ISCOOL (the ISOLDE RFQ cooler/buncher). Currently, work on the transmission through the RFQ is ongoing.

· The RF amplifier of ISCOOL has been installed.

· The magnet of REX-EBIS, which lost its liquid He within a day last week, has been refilled and cooled down to 4K. So far the boil-off rate is within the normal limits. Nevertheless, steps are being undertaken in order to obtain its sister unit from Stockholm (both have been built together for the same purpose).

· Work is now ongoing on LINAC2. The RF is already applied. Setting up triplets is in progress.

· The RILIS team tested successfully the UV capabilities of the recently acquired dye lasers. They are working on establishing a laser ionization scheme for gold, as gold beams have been requested for the upcoming online period.

2. A.O.B:

· Funding of about 20kHCF has become available for improving the safety and physics of ISOLDE experiments. After a short discussion funding was approved as follows:

· Daniel Fink, who is working on his diploma thesis at ISOLTRAP, has received funding from the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) to prepare a doctorate with the RILIS team on LIST, the Laser Ion Source and Trap.

· Kara Lynch from the University of York has been accepted as a new doctoral student and will start on Sept. 1. She will work on CHRIS.

· Two additional summer students funded by Finland will work at ISOLDE, Mr. Reko Hynönen from Helsinki University and Mr. Tuomo Tanttu from Helsinki University of Technology. One is going to work with the target group, the other on collinear laser spectroscopy.

· Kristian Petrik presented “Compact stars and mean-field theory”.

· Friday 30-th at 3pm in the ISOLDE visitor’s room, physics coffee with K. Flanagan, who will share some ideas about radioactive ion-beam production with SPS/CERN.

Minutes by DTY