The Engineering Group in Diamond contains around 40 Mechanical and Electrical Project and Design Engineers engaged in designing and building the technical systems that make up the facility. In addition, 7 technical staff are directly engaged in assembling the Storage Ring accelerator, the Front Ends and Insertion Devices. A further 15 staff drawn from STFC and other companies support the Group’s activities.

The technical systems include the Linear Accelerator, Booster and Storage Ring, the Front Ends that are the extraction points for the synchrotron light, and then the Beamlines that condition and deliver the light to the experimental samples. 

Insertion Devices are also supported by the team.  They are specially designed magnets that produce the intense light characteristic of a 3rd generation synchrotron light source.

Stability always has been a watchword for the project. The electron beam, circulating around the 560m Storage Ring, must be produced to just a few tens of micrometres in diameter - the width of a human hair. This electron beam is the source of the synchrotron light, which is then conveyed tangentially away from the Storage Ring for some 60 metres. It is ultimately focused down on to a sample, which again is only measured in micrometres. To achieve this fine focus, stability is vital. The stability of the source combined with the stability of the sample and all the optical elements along the beamline path contribute to maximizing the brilliance of the Diamond Light Source.

Some of the key technologies applied within Diamond include, Ultra High Vacuum (UHV), precision motion to micrometre resolution, managing high heat loads and cryogenics, as well as analyzing complex structures for their rigidity and natural frequencies. With 19 MVA of distributed electrical power around the facility, designing for Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) to combat electrical noise on sensitive X-ray detector systems is also a key requirement.

Diamond’s engineers are very conscious of their responsibilities to ensure that the equipment they design and build is fit for purpose and safe to install, operate, maintain and finally decommission.

In working alongside Diamond’s scientists, technical and administration specialists, members of the Engineering Group are proud to be at the heart of delivering a world class facility, advancing UK science.