Daresbury: tunable radiation for research

The Science Research Council's Synchrotron Radiation Source is about to start operation at Daresbury, UK and is the first such source to be designed specifically to supply photons for scientific research. It supplies intense beams of radiation at any wavelength from infrared to hard x-rays, the research worker simply selecting the wavelength required. Many groups of scientists are already queuing for its services, it took five years to build and cost Pound13 million. The design of the system is considered and examples of areas of research in which the SRS will be used such as molecular biology, material sciences and atomic structure investigations are examined. The costs of the facility and the strain the funding of this project is placing on other research facilities is discussed. (UK)