current events
Journal ofSynchrotron
Radiation
ISSN 0909-0495

current events
This section carries events of interest to the synchrotron radiation community. Works intended for this section should besent direct to the Current-Events Editor (s.hasnain@dl.ac.uk).

XFEL project in Japan achieves major milestone

On 20 June 2006 the RIKEN-JASRI Joint Project Team for theSPring-8 XFEL succeeded in generating laser pulses at 49 nm VUVlight at the prototype 250 MeV SCSS (SPring-8 Compact SASESource). This news could not have come at a better time as onlyrecently the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science and Technology
had announced the five-year funding plan starting from April 2006
for the construction of the 8 GeV XFEL at the SPring-8 site. Thefunding has been provided to RIKEN, now the main sponsor ofJASRI which operates SPring-8. The 800 m-long 8 GeV XFEL will be
constructed next to the 1 km SPring-8 beamline in the south of theHarima campus. The RIKEN XFEL is due for completion and will
provide lasing at wavelengths as short as 0.06 nm.
The construction of a 60 m-long prototype accelerator started
at the beginning of 2005 as a proof-of-the-principle experiment[see J. Synchrotron Rad. (2005). 12, 543–544]. In order to achieve
lasing with a high peak power in the short VUV wavelength region
within such a short accelerating distance, an accelerator with a highacceleration efficiency is required. For this reason the C-band (i.e.
working at 5712 MHz) accelerator proposed by T. Shintake in 1992
was chosen, working at a frequency of twice that of the microwave
traditionally used for acceleration, and having a high energy acceleration efficiency (30 MeV m 1).
The construction of a prototype SCSS machine was completed inMarch 2006. It is composed of several challenging critical devices
including a newly developed single-crystal CeB6 thermionic cathodeinjector, C-band accelerators, and short-period in-vacuum undulators.
One of the most challenging aspects was the use of the thermioniccathode, which is based on single crystals of CeB6, to generate an
ultra-low-emittance beam. The emittance of the electron beam
generated by the thermionic cathode electron gun reached a world
record of 1.1 mm mrad. One starts from a relatively lower beamcurrent of 1 A from a 500 kV DC electron gun. The bunch length isthen compressed more than a few 100 times to generate a few
hundred ampere beam without losing the emittance in the injector.

Through careful use of RF cavities and magnetic lenses, velocity
bunching is performed in the injector system of the prototype
accelerator, achieving a beam emittance of 2.9 mm mrad normalized with a 0.25 nC bunch charge and 1 ps length at 50 MeV. After
four C-band accelerators the beam energy reached an energy of250 MeV. The lasing capability of the prototype accelerator wasdemonstrated when the electron beam was injected into the invacuum undulator. A narrow intense spectrum peaking at 49 nm wasobserved, which was totally different from the natural undulator
radiation (spontaneous mode, measured FEL spectrum). The peakintensity showed an exponential increase against the bunch current,
clear evidence of light amplification. The lasing wavelength of 49 nm
is the second shortest in the world, following the 13 nm observed at
DESY’s 300 m-long VUV-FEL facility in April 2006. For moredetails, visit the SCSS web site, http://www-xfel.spring8.or.jp/ [see J.
Synchrotron Rad. (2006). 13, 289–290].

A view down the SCSS tunnel.

The Joint-Project Team on the day that lasing at 49 nm was achieved.
J. Synchrotron Rad. (2006). 13, 411–412

The narrow intense spectrum peaking at 49 nm.
doi:10.1107/S0909049506030470

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current events
Australian synchrotron achieves first light

Construction on the Australian Synchrotron project reached amajor milestone when it achieved ‘first light’ from a 3 GeV [see J.
Synchrotron Rad. (2005). 12, 254–255] stored beam. The project
received a further boost when Minister Brumby announced that thefunding commitments for the initial nine beamlines had reached$50M following announcements by a New South Wales-led consortium and a South Australian/La Trobe University consortium thatthey were becoming partners in the Australian Synchrotron project.
He said, ‘‘Today’s funding announcements completes the Australian
Synchrotron partnership, exceeds the original $45M target anddemonstrates the project is a truly national project. This project hasforged the first ever national partnership to fund science infrastructure and, once operational, will play a major role in serving theneeds of researchers across the nation.’’ Mr Brumby said that firstlight was a key milestone in delivering the intense light Australianscientists need for leading-edge research. User operation of theAustralian Synchrotron is expected to commence in 2007.

Members of the SESAME Council and UNESCO delegates at SOLEIL.

SESAME Council and UNESCO delegates visit SOLEIL

The SESAME Council and a number of permanent delegates ofUNESCO visited SOLEIL on 11 July 2006. The visit was planned aspart of the 8th SESAME Council Meeting held at the UNESCO
headquarters in Paris. On this occasion the Director General ofSESAME, H. E. Khaled Toukon, who is also the Minister of Higher
Education and Science, presented a small token of appreciation toDr Denis Raoux, Director General of SOLEIL, for hosting the visit.
The delegation was able to hear at first hand about the progress maderecently with commissioning of SOLEIL [see J. Synchrotron Rad.
(2006). 13, 347–348].

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Dr Denis Raoux is flanked by Professor Herwig Schopper, the President of theSESAME Council, and H. E. Khaled Toukon.

J. Synchrotron Rad. (2006). 13, 411–412