Proposal for a slow positron facility at Jefferson National Laboratory

One goal of the JPos-17 International Workshop on Physics with Positrons was to ascertain whether it would be a good idea to expand the mission of the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) to include science with low energy (i.e. “slow”) spin polarized positrons. It is probably true that experimentation with slow positrons would potentially have wide-ranging benefits comparable to those obtained with neutron and x-ray scattering, but it is certain that the full range of these benefits will never be fully available without an infrastructure comparable to that of existing neutron and x-ray facilities. The role for Jefferson Laboratory would therefore be to provide and maintain (1) a dedicated set of machines for making and manipulating high intensity, high brightness beams of polarized slow positrons; (2) a suite of unique and easily used instruments of wide utility that will make efficient use of the positrons; and (3) a group of on-site positron scientists to provide scientific leadership,...