Facility

On 27 April 2005, Singapore Synchrotron Light Source (SSLS), National University of Singapore (NUS), and Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP), Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), have concluded a Memorandum of Understanding outlining their intended collaboration on

- synchrotron radiation science and
- accelerator science and technology.

The first experiment under preparation is the Proof-of-Technology experiment for the generation of synchrotron radiation that will be based on a linear accelerator and a superconducting miniundulator, an important step towards advanced synchrotron light sources and free electron lasers.

The pictures show Prof. Xu Hongjie (left), Director SINAP, and Prof. Herbert Moser (right), Director SSLS, signing and exchanging the MoU documents at SINAP's boardroom.

(Current events, J. Synchrotron Rad. (2004). 11, 445)

Singapore synchrotron completes its first year of routine operation

The Singapore Synchrotron Light Source (SSLS) building project was approved in 1997. In 1999 the building was completed and the Helios 2 storage ring moved into place, and in 2000 the accelerator system was commissioned and beamline construction began. In October 2001, user pilot operation started with a phase-contrast imaging beamline (PCI). A micro/nanofabrication facility (LiMiNT), a soft X-ray facility for surface, interface and nanoscience (SINS), and the X-ray development and demonstration beamline (XDD) were added. Routine user operation was achieved by 2003. A beamline for infrared spectro/microscopy (ISMI) will be ready soon.

Top: SSLS building on the campus of the National University of Singapore.
Bottom: Helios 2 storage ring inside the shielding vault.

SINS beamline at SSLS.

SSLS is developing the general-purpose synchrotron light source capability of the compact superconducting storage ring Helios 2, which was manufactured by Oxford Instruments in close collaboration with Daresbury Laboratory in the early 1990s for the computerchip-making industry. 700 MeV electrons orbiting through 4.5 T dipoles produce a very useful spectrum from about 10 keV to the far infrared. Several beamlines have come into routine operation and include the SINS (surface, nanostructures and interface science, see photograph top right) and the XDD (X-ray development and demonstration) beamlines. XDD has been used for example in demonstrating the high quality of K-edge XAFS of a thin Cu plate on Si. With photoemission spectroscopy, X-ray magnetic circular dichroism and X-ray absorption fine-structure spectroscopy from 50 eV to 1.2 keV, SINS is extensively used for thin-film and nanostructures characterization for such fields as magnetic data storage and self-assembly-based nanomanufacturing. Forthcoming in situ scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopy (STM/AFM) will enhance its competitive edge. Like all national synchrotron radiation facilities the SSLS user community has grown, from a few to almost 100 in a brief period.

(SSLS 2004/02/14)

Nobel laureate Prof. Klaus von Klitzing : "... researchers in Singapore would consider SSLS a valuable asset."
German Nobel laureate Prof. Klaus von Klitzing visited the Singapore Synchrotron Light Source when he was in Singapore to speak at the International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies ICMAT 2003 (7-12 Dec 2003). After a tour of the facility, he commented that he was convinced researchers in Singapore would consider SSLS a valuable asset. The picture shows Prof. von Klitzing (right) with SSLS Director, Prof. H.O. Moser, at the X-ray beamline for diffraction and absorption spectroscopy (XDD).

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