In order to meet the needs of the nuclear physics user community a large variety of targets are required to be made from elements throughout the periodic table. Over the years, a wide range of techniques have been and are continuing to be developed by the NPG's laboratory in order to meet changing experimental requirements of target production. Target preparation is often crucial to the success of an experiment and it is therefore of the utmost importance that the target conforms to the experimental requirements with regard to purity, composition, thickness etc. The target preparation laboratory has an extensive range of chemicals and materials available for general use and is equipped to carry out many target preparation techniques. All processing involving the use of hazardous chemicals and materials is carried out in designated fume cupboards or glove boxes and facilities are available for the disposal of chemical waste.
Many techniques are in common usage in the laboratory for target production.
Common mechanical processes such as compacting, rolling, settling of powders from suspension, use of slurries, painting and casting. Direct deposition using an isotope separator, electrospraying, sputtering and high vacuum deposition. The main items of processing equipment include, thermal sources, electron guns, sputter sources, thickness monitors, balances, rollers, gloves boxes and fume cupboards. A wide range of storage facilities are available. The target preparation laboratory keeps a record of targets that have been made in recent years .