English

Investing nearly £ 520 million, this synchrotron light source in the UK will be upgraded

1153
2023-09-27 13:56:59
See translation

Recently, the UK's national synchrotron "Diamond Light Source" announced an investment of nearly £ 520 million ($648.3 million) to implement three new flagship beam lines and upgrade existing beam lines. This comprehensive upgrade will be delivered by 2030.

The Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology and the biomedical charity Wellcome jointly approved the facility upgrade project, with 86% of the £ 520 million funding from the UK government and 14% from the Wellcome Foundation.

The "Diamond Light Source" accelerator located in Oxford, UK is essentially a huge microscope that can generate light 10 billion times brighter than the sun. This light is directed to a laboratory called a beam line, where a series of scientific research fields are conducted.

Its power is 10000 times that of traditional microscopes. In addition to groundbreaking medical discoveries, it is crucial for studying a range of themes, including ancient paintings and fragments of fossils, while finding solutions to extend the lifespan of machinery such as engines and turbine blades.

The new fourth generation synchrotron will support a growing user base of researchers while maintaining the UK's world leading position in cutting-edge science.

The Diamond II upgrade, which lasts for several years, is part of the complete Diamond light source upgrade plan and will include an 18 month "dark period" where all beams will be inactive, followed by a period of time when new facilities will be fully launched, including three new flagship beam lines and many major upgrades to other beam lines. In addition to the "Diamond ii" program, it will also cover new devices that replace synchronous accelerator machines, enabling them to generate brighter light, as well as new computing hardware and software.

The advancement of accelerator technology means that Diamond II will provide opportunities for the scientific community in academia and industry to develop brighter beams and increased coherence within the large energy range of all our beam lines and additional beam lines, "said Adrian Smith, Chairman of the Diamond Light Source Board of Directors and Chairman of the Royal Society. In addition, Diamond Light Source's funding announcement states that the upgrade is expected to pave the way for material research and accelerated drug development, as well as provide real-time insights into advanced manufacturing and next-generation battery performance processes.

Source: OFweek

Related Recommendations
  • Lumentum revenue growth due to increased demand for artificial intelligence

    Photonic component manufacturer Lumentum says that its sales revenues will exceed half a billion dollars in the current quarter - and surpass $600 million this time next year, as demand from artificial intelligence (AI) data centers continues to accelerate. CEO Michael Hurlston announced a sales figure of just under $481 million for the quarter that ended June 28, up 56 per cent year-on-year and...

    08-15
    See translation
  • Xi'an Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics has made new progress in the field of metasurface nonlinear photonics

    Recently, the Research Group of Nonlinear Photonics Technology and Applications in the State Key Laboratory of Transient Optics and Photonics Technology of Xi'an Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics has made important progress in the field of super surface nonlinear photonics. Relevant research results were published in the internationally famous journal Nanoscale Horizons. The first author of t...

    2024-09-27
    See translation
  • On demand ultra short laser flash: controllable optical pulse pairs from a single fiber laser

    Set up a dual comb fiber laser oscillator, external pulse combination, and real-time detection.In innovative methods for controlling ultra short laser flashes, researchers from Bayreuth University and Konstanz University are using soliton physics and two pulse combs in a single laser. This method has the potential to greatly accelerate and simplify laser applications.Traditionally, the pulse inter...

    2024-01-12
    See translation
  • The ECSTATIC fiber optic project worth 5.1 million euros aims to prevent bridge collapse

    A new European research project is exploring whether the same fibre-optic cables that carry our internet could also serve as real-time sensors for hidden damage in infrastructure, including bridges, railways, tunnels and energy pipelines. The €5.1 million ECSTATIC project, coordinated by Aston University in the UK, is trialling this breakthrough approach in a major UK city, using a heavily-used...

    08-18
    See translation
  • Pensievision Wins Luminate NY OPI Accelerator Competition

    New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced last week that Pensievision emerged as the winner of the eighth cohort of the Luminate NY Optics, Photonics, and Imaging (OPI) Startup Accelerator Competition. The San Diego, California-based company was honored as the “Company of the Year” at the Luminate NY 2025 Finals held in Rochester on October 22. The finals were part of SPIE Optifab, the annual confe...

    10-31
    See translation