The 14th Symposium on Accelerator Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Japan, November 2003

PRESENT STATUS OF SESAME
Shin-ichi Kurokawa
KEK, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization
1-1 Oho, Tsukuba, 305-0801 Japan
Abstract
SESAME (Synchrotron radiation for Experimental
Science and Application for the Middle East), located in
the western suburb of Amman, capital of Jordan, is aninternational institute in the Middle East. The main
objective of SESAME is to promote sciences and tocreate peace in the region. Its main facility is a 2.5-GeV
light source. This institute has been formerly establishedin January, 2003, and the construction of the building has
already started. At present, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, United
Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan, Palestinian Authority,Israel and Egypt are members of SESAME. In this paper,
the basic design of the light sauce and the present statusof the project are given.

INTRODUCTIONSESAME, Synchrotron light for Experimental Scienceand Applications in the Middle East, is an international
research institute located in Allan in Jordan, and has beenformally established in January 2003 as an independentinternational research institute. The main facility of theinstitute is a 2.5 GeV synchrotron with a 124-m
circumference. The site of SASAME is about 30 km westof Amman, Capital of Jordan, and 30 km east of theborder between the Palestinian Authority and Jordan. At
present (September 2003), the following nine countries
are its formal members: Pakistan, Islamic Republic ofIran, The Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Turkey, Jordan, The
Palestinian Authority, Israel, and Egypt.
SESAME was established on a model of the European
Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva,Switzerland. From the outset, UNESCO has been anactive player in establishing SESAME. Now SESAME is
an independent entity in its own right, UNESCO plays adepository role for SESAME. Indeed CERN was createdafter the world war II to unite war-torned Europe throughscience.
The word SESAME may be interpreted as a 'door
opener', namely, 'Open SESAME'. Indeed, SEASAME isexpected to open many doors. By becoming world-classlaboratory, SESAME will provide facilities for basic
research and many applications and thereby promotescience and technology in the region, and, in this way,people gain a better understanding of one another,promote tolerance and, ultimately, enhance the chances ofpeace. It is notable that both Israel and the Palestinian
Authority are formal members of SESAME.
For the details of SESAME please refer to thefollowing web site:
http://www.sesame.org.jo

THE SESAME STORY
When Gustaf-Adolf Voss of the German Electron
Synchrotron (DESY) attended one conference held in
Trino in November, 1997, he met two Jordanian Nuclear
Physicists, Mahmoud Kofahi of Al-Balqa’ Applied
University and Sami Mahmood of Yarmouk University.
He asked them about the status of accelerators in theMiddle East. These two Jordanians mentioned that
unfortunately there were no facilities in the Middle East atthat time. Then Voss came up with an idea that to send
BESSY I that was close to finish its role as a light source
to the Middle East and suggested this idea to them. Thesetwo Arab scientists were became interested.
On this idea of Voss an international synchrotron lightsource in the Middle East was first proposed in 1997 by
Herman Winick of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center(Stanford University, USA) and Voss during a workshop
organized by the CERN-based Middle East Scientific Cooperation group headed by Sergio Fubini. Germany had
just decided to decommission its facility, BESSY I, sincea newer one was being built in Berlin. At the request ofSergio Fubini and Herwig Schopper, the German
government agreed to donate the components toSESAME, provided the dismantling was taken care of bythe latter.
The plan was brought to the attention of Federico
Mayor, then Director-General of UNESCO, who called ameeting at the Organization Headquarters in Paris in July
1999 of delegates from the Middle East and other regions.
The outcome of the meeting was the launching of theproject and the setting-up of an International Interim
Council under the Chairmanship of Herwig Schopper.
Jordan, which has been selected to host the centre, isproviding the land as well as funds for the construction ofthe building.
The JSPS Asian Science Seminar on Synchrotron
Radiation Sciences was held in Jordan on October 20November 2 of 2002 jointly organized by JSPS, KEK,
and Al-Balqa’ Applied University. It had more thanhundred participants including 70 Arab scientists, 10Japanese lecturers.
During the Seminar, the first
SESAME users meeting was held on October 26-27, andthe drawing-up of the initial beamlines was begun.
The groundbreaking ceremony was held in January
2003 and construction work began the following July. The
component parts of BESSY I have been shipped from
Germany to Jordan.
In May 2002, the Executive Board of UNESCO
unanimously approved the establishment of the centre
under the auspices of the Organization and UNESCO
becomes the depository of the SESAME Statutes. In

The 14th Symposium on Accelerator Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Japan, November 2003

January 2003, the Centre creation was formally sealedfollowing an exchange of correspondence between
Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, andUNESCO Member States.
Immediately after the groundbreaking ceremony inJanuary 2003, the first meeting of the permanent Council,
replacing the International Interim Council, took place. At
this first meeting, the centre statutes were approved andthe President (Herwig Schopper from Germany) and twoVice-Presidents (Khaled Toukan from Jordan and Dincer
Ulku from Turkey) of SESAME were elected.
The second Council meeting was held in July 2003 inIstanbul in Turkey, where Khaled Toukan, Minister ofEducation of Jordan, was elected as acting Director ofSESAME with four-year term.
Figure 1 shows the location of SESAME and its
member countries.

This will make SESAME a unique multidisciplinary
centre in the Middle East.

Figure 2: Bird-eye views of the building
The synchrotron light source is to be housed in abuilding built specially for the purpose at Al-Balqa’
Applied University (Jordan). Financed by Jordan, thebuilding has been designed by civil engineers from AlBalqa’ Applied University. The design builds on theexperience of the ANKA facility in Germany, which has
also provided guidance. Construction of the SESAME
building began in July 2003. In addition to thesynchrotron and beamlines, the SESAME building willhouse support laboratories for visiting scientists.

TRAINING

Figure 1: The location of SESAME and its member
countries

SESAME SYNCHROTRON LIGHT
SOURCE
Although SESAME was triggered by the gift from
Germany of the 0.8 GeV BESSY I storage ring andinjector system, through discussion among scientists, theparameters of SESAME were optimized and a final
design energy of 2.5 GeV and circumference of 124 m
were selected. Its performances will be equivalent to themodern synchrotron, the so-called third generation
sources which are defined as synchrotrons where the main
light sources are undulators and wigglers and light beams
are highly collimated. Figure 2 shows a bird-eye views ofthe building. Figure 3 shows the layout of the accelerators
and Table 1 summarises the parameters of synchrotron. .
SESAME is expected to begin operations in 2008 with
about six beamlines, and their number being expected torise to 20 by 2013. Several hundred scientists from theregion and other parts of the world are expected to use
these beamlines, which will cover disciplines ranging
from archaeology to the biological and medical sciences.

SESAME will provide essential infrastructure for thescientific and technological development of the Middle
East. Experienced scientists will be attracted by theprospect of returning home to their region to pursue theirresearch interests at SESAME and graduate students andyoung researchers will no longer have to go abroad foradvanced training. Once SESAME has been established
as a physical entity, a highly trained scientific andtechnical staff will ensure that both experienced andinexperienced users of the centre are successful in theirexperiments. This user-facility approach has proved its
effectiveness in opening this advanced technology tothousands of users from many disciplines, including
biology, chemistry, geology, materials science, medicine
and physics, in most synchrotron radiation sources
worldwide. As an interdisciplinary centre, SESAME will
provide a stimulating environment for international cooperation. The process of training Middle Easternscientists in the uses of synchrotron radiation and bothscientists and engineers in the relevant accelerator
technology is well under way. From 1999 to 2002, morethan 150 scientists and engineers from the region
participated in ten SESAME workshops and schools inthe Middle East on applications in biology, materials
science and other fields, as well as on accelerator
technology. Approximately 30 of these men and women
have spent periods of up to two years working at
synchrotron radiation facilities in Europe and the USA.
The majority of these facilities are situated in countries
that are Observers to the SESAME Council. These

The 14th Symposium on Accelerator Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Japan, November 2003

facilities offer scientists from the Middle East theopportunity to use their own light sources while SESAME
is under construction, thereby providing them with firsthand experience and further swelling the ranks of Middle
Eastern scientists with experience in using synchrotron
radiation sources. European, American and Japanese
centres are also contributing valuable assistance andadvice in designing, constructing and utilizing SESAME.
Past experience of synchrotron light centres fromdifferent parts of the world shows the substantial andpractical benefits for the host region: The regions best
scientists and technologists are motivated to stay in theregion or return if they have emigrated; The members
brightest young talent is attracted to scientific higher
education and thus contributes to the development of aknowledge-based economy; By stimulating the regional
economy, synchrotron centres create jobs well beyond
those of the centres' own staff. They create business for

local and regional operators in the areas. Frequently,
enterprises involved in research and development acquire
additional know new synchrotron-based technologies likestructural genomics, materials science, etc.
Table 1: The parameters of synchrotron.
Energy (GeV)
Current (mA)
Bending flux density (T)Circumference (m)Emittance (nm.rad)
Length of straight section (m)The beam cross section of the longstraight section (µm)
Available straight sections for insertion
devicesFigure 3: The layout of the accelerators

2.5
400
1.412424.6
2.77
730x2213