Graduate student working at FRIB. Find out more

Welcome to FRIB

The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University (MSU) is a world-class research and training center, hosting the most powerful rare-isotope accelerator. MSU operates FRIB as a user facility for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC), with financial support from and furthering the mission of the DOE-SC Office of Nuclear Physics. FRIB is where researchers come together to make discoveries that change the world. They study the properties and fundamental interactions of rare isotopes and nuclear astrophysics and their impact on medicine, homeland security, and industry.

Research areas

FRIB advances nuclear science by improving our understanding of nuclei and their role in the universe, while also advancing accelerator systems.

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Capabilities

In establishing and operating FRIB, capabilities were developed that transfer to other industries and applications.

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A photo of the K500 ribbon-cutting ceremony, showing several people cutting the event ribbon on stage.
A graphic showing arsenic-73 Artificial intelligence/machine learning graphic

User facilities

FRIB hosts the world’s most powerful heavy-ion accelerator and enables discoveries in rare isotopes, nuclear astrophysics, fundamental interactions, and societal applications like medicine, security, and industry.

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Learn more about upcoming events taking place at FRIB. 

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  • 11 March 2026
  • 3:30 EDT
Labwork to Leadership No matter where you are in your career and what future path you aspire to, everyone needs leadership skills. However, learning these skills can prove challenging when our training and jobs focus on science. This webinar will offer insight into the leadership skills that can fuel your success and will provide practical strategies for building skills including goal setting, coping with failure, and empowering future leaders.
  • 12 March 2026
  • 5:30 EDT
Advanced Studies Gateway Concert: Roots and Flowers, MSU Saxophone Studio The MSU Saxophone Studio presents Roots and Flowers, featuring the Azalea Quartet and BrassRoots Brass Quintet. The program includes works by Singelée, Maslanka, Nagao, Ewald, Debussy, Bizet, Kompanek, and Bernstein, performed by undergraduate musicians from the MSU College of Music. https://frib.msu.edu/public-engagement/arts-and-activities-at-frib/advanced-stu…
  • 13 March 2026
  • 2:00 EDT
The status of primordial nucleosynthesis Primordial nucleosynthesis or Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) happens during the first 300 seconds of our Universe. It is one of the three evidences for the big-bang model, together with the cosmological expansion and the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). As primordial abundances of light elements are measured with percent-level precision, mild tensions arise with the theoretical predictions of the standard cosmological model. This calls for improved measurements of the key nuclear rates which are involved in these predictions. In addition, since the physics at play crucially depends on neutrino physics, BBN is also a powerful tool to constrain neutrino properties in the early universe. I will summarize how neutrino asymmetries, arising from non-vanishing chemical potentials, will be constrained by BBN combined with future CMB experiments. https://www.cenamweb.org/events/online-seminar-series
Training the next generation

Education & training

FRIB at MSU is a world-class research and training center where students and researchers from all career stages and backgrounds come together to make discoveries that change the world.

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External news and journal publications discussing FRIB.

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  • 22 January 2026
  • Phys.org

Researchers have reported new experimental results addressing the origin of rare proton-rich isotopes heavier than iron, called p-nuclei. Led by Artemis Tsantiri, then-graduate student at FRIB and current postdoctoral fellow at the University of Regina in Canada, the study presents the first rare isotope beam measurement of proton capture on arsenic-73 to produce selenium-74, providing new constraints on how the lightest p-nucleus is formed and destroyed in the cosmos.

https://phys.org/news/2026-01-cosmic-rare-proton-rich-isotope.html
  • 20 December 2025
  • Phys.org

A research team at FRIB is the first ever to observe a beta-delayed neutron emission from fluorine-25, a rare, unstable nuclide. Using the FRIB Decay Station Initiator (FDSi), the team found contradictions in prior experimental findings. The results led to a new line of inquiry into how particles in exotic, unstable isotopes remain bound under extreme conditions.

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-beta-delayed-neutron-emission-rare.html
  • 26 March 2025
  • Lansing State Journal

One of the nation's premier research facilities located at Michigan State University is getting a multi-million dollar upgrade. Late last month, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science approved $49.7 million for MSU's Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.

https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/campus/2025/03/26/msu-frib…