Design and commissioning of the PRIOR-II "proton microscope for FAIR"

A new high energy proton radiography facility PRIOR-II (Proton Microscope for FAIR) has been designed, constructed, and successfully commissioned at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung (Darmstadt, Germany) pushing the technical boundaries of charged particle radiography with normal conducting magnets to the limits. The setup is foreseen to become a new and powerful user facility for carrying out fundamental science experiments in the fields of plasma and shock wave physics, material science, and medical physics. It will help address several unsolved scientific challenges, which require high-speed and precise non-invasive diagnostic methods capable of probing matter with up to 100 g/cm2 areal density. PRIOR-II is specifically designed to utilize the full timing capabilities of the SIS-18 synchrotron at GSI for ultra-fast dynamic experiments with up to 4 GeV protons and will also be fielded at the future FAIR facility, where higher proton energies and beam intensities will be available. This will enable experiment geometries with even higher areal densities, more flexible experiment timing, and further enhanced spatial resolution.