The Brazilian National Laboratory for Synchrotron light

In this paper we describe the Brazilian synchrotron light source-Laboratorio Nacional de Luz Sincrotron/LNLS- located in Campinas, Brazil, and review its present status. LNLS is a National Laboratory of the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). We discuss the strategy for setting up LNLS and comment on its relevance for the scientific and technological development of Brazil. We present a brief description of the storage ring and its commissioning. We also present a description of the beam lines and scientific instrumentation. Seven beam lines, many of them proposed by external users and financed by external agencies based on competitive grants, will be in operation by early 1997. An eight beam line, for X-ray fluorescence, was funded recently, for operation in 1998. LNLS is a facility open to all qualified users, based on peer review of projects. Academic users from Latin America will have free access to photons provided by LNLS. (Author)