The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility

A new design study for the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) has been carried out in the past year by the European Synchrotron Radiation Project Group. The aim was to extend the work done in 1979 and 1982, under the auspices of the European Science Foundation, towards a very high brilliance, hard X-ray machine. The guidelines for the design of a dedicated Synchrotron Radiation Source in the X-ray region were laid out in 1982 by the ESRF study group and confirmed at a ESRP workshop in 1983. It was concluded then that a low emittance storage ring with a large number of straight sections for wigglers and undulators, and the capability for also providing bending magnet sources in the 1 A wavelength region should be built. The possibility of deciding on the number of a given type of device at a late stage in the project, or indeed at any time during operation, was deemed to be an important design feature