Towards the end of 2017, a new beam line was commissioned at the Laboratorio Nacional de Espectrometría de Masas con Aceleradores (LEMA) at Instituto de Física of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (IFUNAM). Initially, LEMA was a 1 MV tandetron accelerator just dedicated to Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS); nowadays, the new line adopted the main characteristics of the AMS system in a natural way: i.e., it has a high precision measurement of the beam energy and a very high and stable current (tens of μ A) depending of charge state of each isotope. The precise low energy limit around 400 keV opens a window to study reactions in the region of interest for Astrophysics. At the same time, the LEMA beam-line allows to develop experiments combining nuclear reactions with AMS, as well the developing of all of kind of Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) studies. In this work the main characteristics of the line, the ancillary systems and the perspectives for low energy measurements for nuclear studies and applications are described.

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in 1984 and started a new life in 1988. At the end of 2017, the ion source was severely damaged. Several power supplies were destroyed. In this article we describe the process of restoring the VDG terminal. A number of power supplies were redesigned, built, tested and mounted in the Terminal. As a result of the work carried out during most of 2019, the VDG accelerator is now operational and we show data from the Rutherford Backscattering (RBS) analysis of a platinum coated silicon slab using the first proton and 𝛼 beams. Electronic diagrams of all supplies in their new configuration are provided for the benefit of this kind of RF-Ion sources users still numerous. K: Accelerator Subsystems and Technologies; Ion sources (positive ions, negative ions, electron cyclotron resonance (ECR), electron beam (EBIS)); Instrumentation for particle accelerators and storage rings -low energy (linear accelerators, cyclotrons, electrostatic accelerators)

The use of double charge exchange reactions is discussed in view of their application to extract information that may be helpful to determinate the nuclear matrix elements entering in the expression of neutrinoless double beta decay half-life. The strategy adopted in the experimental campaigns performed at INFN - Laboratori Nazionali del Sud and in the analysis methods within the NUMEN project is briefly described, emphasizing the advantages of the multi-channel approach to nuclear reaction data analysis. An overview on the research and development activities on the MAGNEX magnetic spectrometer is also given, with a focus on the chosen technological solutions for the focal plane detector which will guarantee the performances at high-rate conditions.

Neutrinoless double beta decay of nuclei, if observed, would have important implications on fundamental physics. In particular it would give access to the effective neutrino mass. In order to extract such information from 0νββ decay half-life measurements, the knowledge of the Nuclear Matrix Elements (NME) is of utmost importance. In this context the NUMEN and the NURE projects aim to extract information on the NME by measuring cross sections of Double Charge Exchange reactions in selected systems which are expected to spontaneously decay via 0νββ. In this work an overview of the experimental challenges that NUMEN is facing in order to perform the experiments with accelerated beams and the research and development activity for the planned upgrade of the INFN-LNS facilities is reported.