ESRF initiates synchrotron upgrade
29 May 2015
The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France has today unveiled plans to upgrade its facilities with a new generation of X-ray synchrotrons.
The ESRF renovation and upgrade project - known as ’The Upgrade Programme’ - consists of three new beamlines and marks the official launch of the second phase of the programme, which started in 2009 via the construction of a new generation of beamlines to explore the nanoworld.
“In relation to the work completed over the past decade…a quantum jump was required
ESRF research directors
According to the ESRF, the second phase of the programme represents a real technological challenge: “to complete, within a limited period and based on a pre-existing structure, with minimal disruption of the ongoing user programme, the shutdown, dismantling and installation of a new radiation source”.
Synchrotron experimentation can be used to gain a better understanding of materials characterisation at the nanoscale, science in extreme conditions, structural biology and medicine, nanotechnologies and environmental and energy sciences.
“In relation to the work completed over the past decade concerning the constant improvement of synchrotron-generated light, a quantum jump was required,” said ESRF research directors Harald Reichert and Jean Susini in a joint statement.
“The ESRF accelerator scientists found an innovative solution, which will boost the brilliance of the X-rays and their coherence by a factor of 100,” they added.
“Many technological challenges lay ahead, but the most critical one is to install a new storage ring inside the existing structure, 90% of which will be reused.
“The unrivalled properties of this new light source will transform the facility into a unique instrument, opening up new perspectives for X-ray science in many fields of fundamental and applied research.”
The ESRF plans to continue its synchrotron upgrade programme until 2022, and boasts an overall budget of €330 million which will help experts at the facility “contribute to answering the great technological, economical, societal and environmental challenges confronting our world,” ESRF director-general Francesco Sette said.
