Generalitat de Catalunya

A synchrotron is a particle accelerator. An electron cannon emits an initial beam that is accelerated to nearly the speed of light. Once the electrons have reached high energies they are introduced into a confined ring where they move about for hours with energy that is kept constant by means of changes in radio frequency (Storage).

When the electrons moving around in the ring take a curve, they emit extremely intense light with wavelengths ranging from the visible to X-rays. This light is highly focalized, polarized and then emitted in the form of pulses like a camera flash.

The radiation emitted, or synchrotron light, is channelled towards workstations (beamlines) where users can utilise it for research.