Day 2 - What is a Synchrotron?

Synchrotron light can be 10 billion times brighter than the sun. Particles called electrons are generated in an electron gun, very like the cathode ray tubes found in old television sets. They are then fired out into the machine, where they are accelerated up to very high speeds through a series of three particle accelerators. These are called the linear accelerator, or linac, the booster synchrotron and the large storage ring.

The linac and the booster synchrotron both work to accelerate the electrons so that they are travelling at nearly the speed of light. Once they enter the storage ring, the electrons are moving so fast that they could travel around the entire world 7.5 times in a single second.

The storage ring is what gives Diamond its iconic doughnut shape. It has a huge circumference; the footprint of St. Pauls Cathedral could fit inside Diamond 5 times. The storage ring is not a true circle, but a type of polygon called a tetracontakaioctagon, made of 48 straight sections angled together with 48 bending magnets, and this magnetism is used to steer the electrons around the ring. Third generation synchrotrons like Diamond also use special arrays of magnets called insertion devices. These cause the electrons to wiggle around, which produces even more intense light. When the path of the electron beam is bent by Diamond’s powerful magnets, the electrons lose energy in the form of light. This light can then be channelled out of the storage ring and into the experimental stations, called beamlines and it is inside these beamlines that scientists carry out their experiments.