The N=126 Factory at Argonne National Laboratory

Precision mass measurements of neutron-rich isotopes far from the valley of stability are essential to our understanding of nuclear structure and the astrophysical rapid neutron capture process (r-process). The N=126 region has been largely inaccessible with other isotope production methods, such as fragmentation or fission. The N=126 Factory, a new facility under construction at Argonne National Laboratory's ATLAS accelerator, aims to produce heavy, neutron-rich isotopes near the N=126 shell closure via multi-nucleon transfer (MNT) reactions, which offer a viable pathway. A large-volume gas catcher will be used to collect and thermalize the broad angular distribution of MNT reaction products then extract a continuous low-energy beam. A mass analyzing dipole magnet will separate non-isobar contamination from the beam, which will then be delivered to a RFQ cooler-buncher to convert the continuous beam into a cooled, bunched beam. This beam will undergo further separation using the Notre Dame MR-TOF, for the creation of isotopically pure beams for delivery to experiments downstream. The current status of the commissioning of the N=126 Factory and the planned measurement campaign using the Canadian Penning Trap (CPT) mass spectrometer will be presented.