The 600 MeV Saclay linac facilities: the experimental program and its limitations due to the machine characteristics

The ALS at Saclay is now in operating for more than 40,000 hours since 1969 and still remains alone in the energy field from 400 to 600 MeV for electrons at 1% duty cycle. Choosing experiments in three specific domains we show the limitations on physics results due to the real characteristics of the electron beams. These domains are: electron elastic and inelastic scattering, electron quasi-elastic scattering with coincidence measurements, and photonuclear productions. In experimental set up we are at a state where the experiment's results are limited by the qualities of the electron beams, i.e. energy, energy spread, emittance, duty cycle, and stability. Some possible Saclay Linac evolutions are examined for increasing its duty cycle and total energy