The European Synchrotron Radiation Project

In recent years, X-ray synchrotron radiation became a powerful tool for studies of condensed matter, and in view of that a proposal for the construction of a European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) was elaborated in some detail by the European Synchrotron Radiation Project. The heart of the proposed Facility is a 5 GeV electron storage ring with a 100-200 mA electron current and a characteristic wavelength of 0.9 A from bending magnets. The storage ring is able to accommodate up to 30 wavelength shifters, multipole wigglers and undulators. It is characterized by a small emittance (7 X 10-9 rad m) leading to a very high brilliance (1019 photons/s/mm2 of the source1/mrad2 solid angle in a relative bandwidth of 0.1% in case of a 1 A undulator). The review gives a brief account of the storage ring, the emitted radiation and applications of X-ray synchrotron radiation in fundamental and applied research. It is preceded by a short summary of information about synchrotron radiation. (Auth.)