Finally, the South Oxfordshire-based Diamond Light Source synchrotron, which is the largest science facility to be created in UK for 30 years, is now open to business. The gargantuan machine that is intended for use in varied fields including medicine and environmental science is spread over an area equal to five football pitches. The machine produces intense light beams to look into matter down to the molecular and atomic scale.

Gerhard Materlik, chief executive of Diamond, said:

The first users possess an extensive knowledge of synchrotron science and bring a range of research projects to Diamond, from cancer research, to advancing data storage techniques, to unravelling the mysteries of the Solar System.

The machine that is referred to as ‘super microscope‘ features a thin vacuum chamber measuring 562.6m in circumference in which the electrons are being accelerated. As these electrons gain the speed of the light, they start emanating energy in the form of intense synchrotron light. This light is then directed into beamlines where it is thrown on to the material thereby penetrating deep into its structure. Diamond comprises seven beamlines with each one created to carry out diverse kinds of experiments.

Professor Dave Stuart, a structural biologist from the University of Oxford will be carrying out a research to examine the structure of protein molecules found in human cells and to test the molecular basis of deadly diseases like cancer with one of the beamlines. He further cited:

It is wonderful that Diamond has opened in the UK. Over the last two years I have made about 50 trips to the European synchrotron in Grenoble, France. It will be a revelation for us to have this here and it is great to be one of the first users.

The ground-breaking project has been completed with £300 million funding from Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC) and the Wellcome Trust. The supervising team told that they will be adding four to five new beamlines every year until 2011. Since Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS) in Daresbury, Cheshire, the world’s first dedicated synchrotron, is scheduled to close by the end of 2008, it will be replaces by Diamond synchrotron.

Via: BBCnews