Soleil (synchrotron)
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...
facility near Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. It performed its first acceleration of 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 on May 14, 2006. The name SOLEIL is a backronym
Backronym
A backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed purposely, such that an acronym can be formed to a specific desired word. Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology....
for Source optimisée de lumière d’énergie intermédiaire du LURE (LURE optimised intermediary energy light source), LURE meaning Laboratoire pour l'utilisation du rayonnement électromagnétique.
The facility is run by a civil corporation held by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique
Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique
The Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives or CEA, is a French “public establishment related to industrial and commercial activities” whose mission is to develop all applications of nuclear power, both civilian and military...
(CEA), two French national research agencies. It is located in Saint-Aubin
Saint-Aubin, Essonne
Saint-Aubin is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France.Inhabitants of Saint-Aubin are known as Saint-Aubinois.-Research activity:...
in the Essonne
Essonne
Essonne is a French department in the region of Île-de-France. It is named after the Essonne River.It was formed on 1 January 1968 when Seine-et-Oise was split into smaller departments.- History :...
département, a south-western suburb of Paris, near Gif-sur-Yvette
Gif-sur-Yvette
Gif-sur-Yvette is a commune in the south-western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-Geography:The town is crossed by and named after the Yvette river.The total area is and is green spaces and woods.-Place names:...
and Saclay
Saclay
Saclay is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.It is best known for the large scientific facility CEA Saclay, mostly dealing with nuclear and particle physics....
, which host other facilities for nuclear
Nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...
and particle physics
Particle physics
Particle physics is a branch of physics that studies the existence and interactions of particles that are the constituents of what is usually referred to as matter or radiation. In current understanding, particles are excitations of quantum fields and interact following their dynamics...
.
Member of the UniverSud Paris
UniverSud Paris
UniverSud Paris is one of the PRES ) in France. It gathers 21 Public universities, Grandes Écoles and National Research Center, covering nearly the whole spectrum of sciences .-History:...
.
Main parameters
SOLEIL contains electrons travelling with an energy of 2.75 GeV around a 354 m circumference. It takes the electrons 1.2 μsMicrosecond
A microsecond is an SI unit of time equal to one millionth of a second. Its symbol is µs.A microsecond is equal to 1000 nanoseconds or 1/1000 millisecond...
to travel around this ring at almost the speed of light; 847,000 times per second.