Synchrotrons

The group uses synchrotron radiation across the globe, and has performed experiments in the synchrotrons listed below (as well as others that have now closed such as Max-Lab (Sweden), Daresbury SRS (UK), NSLS (USA)). We have visited these synchrotrons to perform soft and hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, ambient pressure photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray emission (XES and RIXS) and absorption spectroscopy (EXAFS). These experiments are all made possible by the hard working beamline scientists and technicians who we are very grateful towards.

Diamond is the UK’s national synchrotron light source science facility located at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire. With an energy of 3 GeV, Diamond is a medium energy synchrotron currently operating with 32 beamlines. Nearby facilities include the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, the Central Laser Facility, the Rosalind Franklin Institute and Research Complex at Harwell. David was part of the first user group at beamline I09, and has also performed experiments at beamlines B18 and I16. The user portal can be found here.

SOLEIL contains electrons travelling with an energy of 2.75 GeV around a 354 m circumference. It takes the electrons 1.2 μs to travel around this ring at almost the speed of light; 847,000 times per second. SOLEIL is a backronym for Source optimisée de lumière d’énergie intermédiaire du LURE (LURE optimised intermediary energy light source), LURE meaning Laboratoire pour l’utilisation du rayonnement électromagnétique. It is located in Saint-Aubin in the Essonne département, a south-western suburb of Paris, near Gif-sur-Yvette and Saclay, which host other facilities for nuclear and particle physics. The group has been a user of the GALAXIES beamline. The user portal can be found here.

The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) is a joint research facility situated in Grenoble, France, and supported by 22 countries (13 member countries: France, Germany, Italy, UK, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Russia and 9 associate countries: Austria, Portugal, Israel, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, India and South Africa). The experiment hall, containing the 844 metre circumference ring and forty tangential beamlines. The linear accelerator electron gun and smaller booster ring used to bring the beam to an operating energy of 6 GeV are constructed within the main ring. The user portal can be found here.

SPring-8 (an acronym of Super Photon Ring – 8 GeV) is a synchrotron radiation facility located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, which was developed jointly by RIKEN and the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. The user portal can be found here.

The Advanced Light Source (ALS) is a research facility at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California. One of the world’s brightest sources of ultraviolet and soft x-ray light, the ALS is the first “third-generation” synchrotron light source in its energy range, providing multiple extremely bright sources of intense and coherent short-wavelength light. The user portal can be found here.

Elettra – Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A. is a multidisciplinary international research center, specialized in generating high quality synchrotron and free-electron laser light and applying it in materials science. The user portal can be found here.

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