Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory
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2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Work completed at SSRL leads to the
2006 Nobel Prize in
Chemistry
for Stanford University's Roger Kornberg.
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SSRL, the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (history), is a division of SLAC devoted to research using synchrotron radiation, the electromagnetic radiation emitted when charged particles travel in curved paths.
For high energy electrons curving in the magnetic fields of a storage ring, such as the 3 GeV SPEAR ring at SLAC, this radiation is extremely intense and has a broad range of wavelengths from the infrared through the visible and ultraviolet range and into the soft and hard x-ray parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Photons in a synchrotron radiation beam are identical to those of the same wavelength produced by other sources. However a synchrotron radiation beam has several special properties. These include:
- high intensity
- broad spectral range
- collimation
- polarization
- pulsed-time structure
- partial coherence
- high-vacuum environment
Any one of these properties would make synchrotron radiation an important tool. Together they make synchrotron radiation an extraordinarily powerful tool for basic and applied research and technology.
The Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, a division of Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, is operated by Stanford University for the Department of Energy. SSRL is a National User Facility. SSRL is primarily supported by the DOE Offices of Basic Energy Sciences and Biological and Environmental Research, with additional support from the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Research Resources, Biomedical Technology Program, and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
Synchrotron radiation x-rays are particularly well suited for the study of many materials because they:
- Are the right size to be able to penetrate into materials.
- Interact with the constituents in the material once they have penetrated.
There are two basic types of x-ray interactions that give structural information, scattering and absorption.
The future of photon science is very bright. One project under construction is the Linac Coherent Light Source. For more information about SSRL, check out their welcome site.
