Diamond Light Source
Encyclopedia
Synchrotron
A synchrotron is a particular type of cyclic particle accelerator in which the magnetic field and the electric field are carefully synchronised with the travelling particle beam. The proton synchrotron was originally conceived by Sir Marcus Oliphant...
science facility located in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, United Kingdom. Its purpose is to produce intense beams of light
Synchrotron light
A synchrotron light source is a source of electromagnetic radiation produced by a synchrotron, which is artificially produced for scientific and technical purposes by specialized particle accelerators, typically accelerating electrons...
whose special characteristics are useful in many areas of scientific research. In particular it can be used to investigate the structure and properties of a wide range of materials from proteins (to provide information for designing new and better drugs), and engineering components (such as a fan blade from an aero-engine) to conservation of archeological artfacts (for example Henry VIII's flagship the Mary Rose
Mary Rose
The Mary Rose was a carrack-type warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. After serving for 33 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany and after being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her last action on 1545. While leading the attack on the galleys of a...
). The facility's name is abbreviated to Diamond throughout this article.
Construction and finance
Diamond was built at ChiltonChilton, Oxfordshire
Chilton is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse about southwest of Didcot. The parish was part of Berkshire until the 1974 local government boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire....
near Didcot
Didcot
Didcot is a town and civil parish in Oxfordshire about south of Oxford. Until 1974 it was in Berkshire, but was transferred to Oxfordshire in that year, and from Wallingford Rural District to the district of South Oxfordshire...
in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, UK, on the site of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is one of the national scientific research laboratories in the UK operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council . It is located on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus at Chilton near Didcot in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom...
operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Science and Technology Facilities Council
The Science and Technology Facilities Council is a UK government body that carries out civil research in science and engineering, and funds UK research in areas including particle physics, nuclear physics, space science and astronomy .-History:It was formed in April 2007 as a merger of the Particle...
. It produced its first user beam towards the end of January 2007, and was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 19 October 2007.
The facility is operated by Diamond Light Source Ltd, a joint venture
Joint venture
A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
company established in March 2002. The company receives 86% of its funding from the UK Government (via the STFC) and 14% from the Wellcome Trust
Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust was established in 1936 as an independent charity funding research to improve human and animal health. With an endowment of around £13.9 billion, it is the United Kingdom's largest non-governmental source of funds for biomedical research...
. Diamond cost £260m to build which covered the cost of the synchrotron building, the accelerators inside it, the first seven experimental stations (beamlines) and the adjacent office block, Diamond House. Costain Ltd
Costain Group
Costain Group plc is a British construction and civil engineering company headquartered in Maidenhead. It was part of the original Channel Tunnel consortium and is involved in Private Finance Initiative projects.-History:...
constructed the building and the synchrotron hall.
Significant construction achievements to note:
i) The project was completed on time and on budget;
ii) The construction of Diamond was completed with one of the lowest accident rates of a mega project completed in the UK. Over 1.3 million manhours were completed during the peak of construction without a single accident.
The synchrotron
Diamond generates synchrotron lightSynchrotron light
A synchrotron light source is a source of electromagnetic radiation produced by a synchrotron, which is artificially produced for scientific and technical purposes by specialized particle accelerators, typically accelerating electrons...
at wavelengths ranging from X-rays to the far infrared. This is also known as synchrotron radiation
Synchrotron radiation
The electromagnetic radiation emitted when charged particles are accelerated radially is called synchrotron radiation. It is produced in synchrotrons using bending magnets, undulators and/or wigglers...
and is the electromagnetic radiation
Electromagnetic radiation
Electromagnetic radiation is a form of energy that exhibits wave-like behavior as it travels through space...
emitted by charged particles travelling near the speed of light
Speed of light
The speed of light in vacuum, usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time...
. It is used in a huge variety of experiments to study the structure and behaviour of many different types of matter.
The particles Diamond uses are electron
Electron
The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
s travelling at an energy of 3 GeV
Electronvolt
In physics, the electron volt is a unit of energy equal to approximately joule . By definition, it is equal to the amount of kinetic energy gained by a single unbound electron when it accelerates through an electric potential difference of one volt...
round a 561.6 m circumference storage ring
Storage ring
A storage ring is a type of circular particle accelerator in which a continuous or pulsed particle beam may be kept circulating for a long period of time, up to many hours. Storage of a particular particle depends upon the mass, energy and usually charge of the particle being stored...
. The ring is not circular, but is shaped as a twenty-four-sided polygon. As the electrons pass through specially designed magnets at each vertex, their sudden change of direction causes them to emit an exceptionally bright beam of electro-magnetic radiation. This is the synchrotron light used for experiments.
The electrons reach this high energy via a series of pre-accelerator stages before being injected into the 3 GeV storage ring:
- an electron gunElectron gunAn electron gun is an electrical component that produces an electron beam that has a precise kinetic energy and is most often used in television sets and computer displays which use cathode ray tube technology, as well as in other instruments, such as electron microscopes and particle...
- 90keV - a 100 MeV linear accelerator
- a 100 MeV–3GeV booster synchrotron (158m in circumference).
The Diamond synchrotron is housed in a silver toroid
Toroid (geometry)
In mathematics, a toroid is a doughnut-shaped object, such as an O-ring. Its annular shape is generated by revolving a plane geometrical figure about an axis external to that figure which is parallel to the plane of the figure and does not intersect the figure...
al building of 738m in circumference, covering an area in excess of 43,300 square metres, or the area of over six international Association Football Pitch
Association football pitch
An association football pitch is the playing surface for the game of association football made of turf. Its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game, "The Field of Play".All line markings on the pitch form part of the area which they define...
es. This contains the storage ring
Storage ring
A storage ring is a type of circular particle accelerator in which a continuous or pulsed particle beam may be kept circulating for a long period of time, up to many hours. Storage of a particular particle depends upon the mass, energy and usually charge of the particle being stored...
and a number of beamline
Beamline
In particle physics, a beamline is the line in a linear accelerator along which a beam of particles travels. It may also refer to the line of travel within a bending section such as a storage ring or cyclotron, or an external beam extracted from a cyclic accelerator.In materials science, physics,...
s, with the linear accelerator and booster synchrotron housed in the centre of the ring. These beamlines are the experimental stations where the synchrotron light's interaction with matter is used for research purposes. Seven (Phase I) beamlines were available when the Diamond became operational in 2007, with another fifteen (Phase II) being constructed and becoming operation over the period 2007-2012. As of July 2011 there were nineteen in operation, with more under construction. The Government and the Wellcome Trust have now agreed to fund Phase III of Diamond which will increase the number of operational beamlines to 32 in 2017.
The seven beamlines which were available when Diamond first became operational in January 2007 were:
- extreme conditions beamline for studying materials under intense temperatures and pressures (Beamline I15).
- materials and magnetism beamline, set up to probe electronic and magnetic materials at the atomic level (Beamline I16).
- three macromolecularMacromoleculeA macromolecule is a very large molecule commonly created by some form of polymerization. In biochemistry, the term is applied to the four conventional biopolymers , as well as non-polymeric molecules with large molecular mass such as macrocycles...
crystallographyCrystallographyCrystallography is the experimental science of the arrangement of atoms in solids. The word "crystallography" derives from the Greek words crystallon = cold drop / frozen drop, with its meaning extending to all solids with some degree of transparency, and grapho = write.Before the development of...
beamlines, for decoding the structure of complex biological samples, such as proteinProteinProteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
s (Beamlines I02, I03 and I04). - microfocus spectroscopy beamline, able to map the chemical make up of complex materials such as moon rocks and geological samples (Beamline I18).
- nanoscience beamline, capable of imaging structures and devices at the scale of a few nanometres (millionths of a millimetre) (Beamline I06).
Phase II of Diamond will increase the number of beamlines to 22, with the 15 new beamlines becoming operational over the period 2007-2012.
Phase III of Diamond provides for the design, procurement, construction and commissioning of an additional 10 beamlines to complement those in Phases I and II of Diamond. They will become operational over the period 2013-2017/18.
Diamond is intended ultimately to host up to ~ forty beamlines, supporting the life, physical and environmental sciences.
Case Studies
- On 13 September 2007, scientists from Cardiff UniversityCardiff UniversityCardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...
, led by Professor Tim Wess, found that the Diamond synchrotron could be used to discover hidden content of ancient documents by illuminationLightingLighting or illumination is the deliberate application of light to achieve some practical or aesthetic effect. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight...
without opening them (penetrating layers of parchmentParchmentParchment is a thin material made from calfskin, sheepskin or goatskin, often split. Its most common use was as a material for writing on, for documents, notes, or the pages of a book, codex or manuscript. It is distinct from leather in that parchment is limed but not tanned; therefore, it is very...
).
- In November 2010 the Journal Nature published an article detailing how scientists Goedele Maertens, Stephen Hare & Peter Cherepanov from Imperial College LondonImperial College LondonImperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
used data collected at Diamond to advance the understanding of how HIV and other retroviruses infect human or animal cells. The findings may enable improvements in gene therapy to correct gene malfunctions.
- In June 2011 an international team of scientists led by Professor So Iwata publised an article in the Journal Nature detailing how using Diamond they had successfully solved the complex 3D structure of the human Histamine H1 receptor protein. Their discovery opens the way for the development of ‘third generation’ anti-histamines, specific drugs effective against various allergies without causing adverse side-effects.
Background
Diamond is a UK National Facility that aims at providing researchers from the UK and the world with synchrotron-based techniques for a wide range of scientific applications.The name DIAMOND was originally conceived by Mike Poole (the originator of the DIAMOND project) and stood as an acronym meaning DIpole And Multipole Output for the Nation at Daresbury
Daresbury Laboratory
Daresbury Laboratory is a scientific research laboratory near Daresbury in Cheshire, England, which began operations in 1962 and was officially opened on 16 June 1967 as the Daresbury Nuclear Physics Laboratory by the then Prime Minister of United Kingdom, Harold Wilson...
. With the location of Diamond now being in Oxfordshire, the original meaning of the acronymn was superseded by the current definition. This derives from that the fact that the light from the synchrotron is both 'hard' (referring to the "hard" X-ray region of the electromagnetic spectrum
Electromagnetic spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. The "electromagnetic spectrum" of an object is the characteristic distribution of electromagnetic radiation emitted or absorbed by that particular object....
) and bright, and hence the current name "Diamond" was born).
Diamond is located on the STFC
STFC
STFC can stand for:* Science and Technology Facilities Council, a UK research council created by the merger of the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council on 1 April 2007* Star Trek: First Contact, a 1996 filmSTFC may...
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is one of the national scientific research laboratories in the UK operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council . It is located on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus at Chilton near Didcot in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom...
site, near to the ISIS neutron source
ISIS neutron source
ISIS is a pulsed neutron and muon source. It is situated at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom and is part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council...
, the Central Laser Facility, and the nearby laboratories at Harwell and Culham (including the Joint European Torus
Joint European Torus
JET, the Joint European Torus, is the largest magnetic confinement plasma physics experiment worldwide currently in operation. Its main purpose is to open the way to future nuclear fusion experimental tokamak reactors such as ITER and :DEMO....
(JET) project). Diamond was originally due to replace the second-generation synchrotron at Daresbury in Cheshire, however, it was decided to locate the new British synchrotron in Oxfordshire.
The Diamond synchrotron is the largest UK-funded scientific facility to be built in the UK for over 45 years, since the Nimrod proton synchrotron which was sited at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. In 1977 financial approval was given to convert the Nimrod facility into the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) named ISIS
ISIS neutron source
ISIS is a pulsed neutron and muon source. It is situated at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom and is part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council...
.
There are ~ 70 dedicated synchrotron facilities in the world, and Diamond (3 GeV) is the world's largest medium energy synchrotron. Only four dedicated synchrotron facilities in the world are currently larger than Diamond, and all are high energy machines. These are: i) SPring-8
SPring-8
SPring-8 is a synchrotron radiation facility located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan and run by the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute. The machine consists of a storage ring containing an 8 GeV electron beam...
in Japan (8 GeV); ii) The ESRF in Grenoble, France (6.03 GeV); iii) The Advanced Photon Source
Advanced Photon Source
The Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory is a national synchrotron-radiation light source research facility funded by the United States Department of Energy Office of Science...
(APS) in Chicago, USA (7 GeV); iv) DESY
DESY
The DESY is the biggest German research center for particle physics, with sites in Hamburg and Zeuthen....
's PETRA III (6 GeV) in Germany, which is currently the world's largest dedicated synchrotron source.
Films, Animations and Podcasts
- Diamond Films and animations
- Diamond YouTube Channel
- Diamond Podcasts
- We are all Scientists
- BBC TV News - 5th February 2007
See also
- Synchrotron Radiation SourceSynchrotron Radiation SourceThe Synchrotron Radiation Source at the Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire, England was the first second-generation synchrotron radiation source to produce X-rays...
(SRS) - European Synchrotron Radiation FacilityEuropean Synchrotron Radiation FacilityThe European Synchrotron Radiation Facility is a joint research facility supported by 19 countries situated in Grenoble, France...
(ESRF) - SynchrotronSynchrotronA synchrotron is a particular type of cyclic particle accelerator in which the magnetic field and the electric field are carefully synchronised with the travelling particle beam. The proton synchrotron was originally conceived by Sir Marcus Oliphant...