SSRL: Research using Synchrotron Radiation

How is Synchrotron Radiation Created?

The radiation is produced in the large dipole magnets that steer the beam around the storage ring and also in "wiggler" and "undulator" magnets. These are periodic arrays of magnets inserted between the dipole magnets; these insertion devices cause the electron beam to bend back and forth, greatly enhancing the intensity of the radiation and/or extending the spectral range to higher energy x-rays. 

How is Synchrotron Radiation Used?

Synchrotron radiation is used to study structural details of matter, on a scale that is sensitive to the placement of individual atoms. This ability opens the door to many applications, including the following: 

1. It provides information about  arrangement of the atoms in complex materials including chemical and biological materials. It also provides information about the changes in these atomic arrangements as these materials carry out their biological or chemical function. Since structure of a chemical or biological material often determines function, knowing the detailed structure can give us insights into their chemical or biological activity or tell us how to improve manufactured materials. 
2. It provides information on the electronic structure of materials and surfaces . This is of particular interest to the semiconductor industry in developing new materials for better and faster computer chips for example.
3. It can be used for imaging, including applications to medical imaging and imaging on a microscopic scale. Synchrotron radiation has been used to make an x-ray microscope.
4. It can be used in trace element analysis, including the determination of very low levels of contamination on the surface of silicon chips, which can prevent them from functioning properly.
5. It can be used to fabricate microstructures, such as gears, motors, transducers, and sensors on a sub-millimeter length scale for use in industry and medicine.

For more than 80 years x-rays have been the principal means of unraveling the positions of atoms in solids,  with regular or crystalline structure. This includes the  structure of large biological molecules which can be solidified in crystalline form for such a study. These arrangements can be very complex, such as the double helix of DNA.   During the last three decades synchrotron radiation has markedly expanded the scope of  such investigation because of its high X-ray intensity and the ability to produce a pre-selected  wavelength range.

As a result, materials research now has a tool that can probe in minute detail the interior and surface of all manners of samples, large and extremely small, including non-crystalline and heterogeneous materials.

The SSRL User Science Highlights web site provides articles about how the facility is used.

A partial list of the areas of particular research projects underway at SSRL and other SR labs includes: 

• Semiconductors for miniaturized computer chips 
• Superconductors to drive magnets in medical imaging machines 
• Magnetic disks for digital data storage 
• Metals and alloys for high-strength structures 
• Ceramics for engines and turbines that can operate at elevated temperatures 
• Polymers for light-weight automobile or aircraft parts 
• Light-emitting materials for flat panel video displays 
• Biomaterials for prostheses 
• Progressive bone loss
• Hazardous substances interactions with their environment
• Determining the trace impurities in silicon used by the semiconductor industry 
• Protein and enzyme structures found to help develop drug action