In situ and dynamic observation of reactions by synchrotron radiation

Synchrotron Radiation (SR), an X-ray beam which is generated using a high-power accelerator, has excellent characteristics of high brilliance, parallel beam, white beam, and pulse beam. We have utilized SR to investigate various materials and processes since 1987. One of the best advantages is that we can observe changes in structures of materials in real environments ('in situ') and real time-scale ('dynamic'). Furthermore, we can obtain not only the averaged information of the bulk material but also the unique information on (a) surface and/or interface in the depth of a nm-scale, (b) specific element, and (c) crystal information with a high accuracy. We show some of recent researches using developed observation techniques using SR. (author)