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.s.hasnain@liverpool.ac.uk).

Lasing achieved at SACLA, Japan’s X-ray free-electron laser facility

The Japanese hard X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL), SACLA(SPring-8 Angstrom Compact free-electron LAser), reached laser
amplification at 10 keV photon energy on 7 June. This is the world’s
second hard X-ray laser after the LCLS of the SLAC National
Accelerator Laboratory in California, USA.
SACLA has pushed through a novel concept of a self-amplified
spontaneous emission (SASE) XFEL. A thermionic electron gun ofsingle-crystal cathode followed by several RF cavities with increasing
frequency for velocity bunching replaced the conventional laser–RFelectron gun, used in both LCLS and the softer X-rays laser FLASHat DESY, to obtain the high-density electron bunch required by theSASE operation. A high-gradient accelerator using C-band RF(5.712 GHz) curtails the total length of the linear accelerator incomparison with the S-band (2.856 GHz) for LCLS and the L-band(1.3 GHz) for FLASH. However, the biggest difference between
SACLA and the LCLS and FLASH lies in the type of undulator used.
The SACLA project started from a discussion of ‘what will happen
when we use in-vacuum undulators developed at SPring-8 insteadof conventional out-of-vacuum undulators used in both LCLS
and FLASH’. Since there is, in principle, no limit to the gap of
the magnetic poles of an in-vacuum undulator, one can reducethe magnetic period of the undulator. This reduction enables thereduction of the electron beam energy required to obtain laser
photons of a particular wavelength from the undulator, because thewavelength of photons that undulators emit is proportional to themagnetic period of the undulators and is inversely proportional to thesquare of the electron beam energy.
SACLA was designed to be composed of an 8 GeV linear accelerator of length 400 m and a 90 m-long undulator with 18 mm
magnetic period. With additional space for user experiments, the total
facility length is as short as 700 m, which is much more compact incomparison with LCLS and the European XFEL, which is currently
being built in Hambury, Germany. Located on the same site as the8 GeV SPring-8 synchrotron radiation facility, the SACLA linear
accelerator will be used as a low-emittance electron beam injector tothe SPring-8 storage ring, and both the SACLA XFEL beam andSPring-8 undulator X-rays can be guided onto the same sample toA view of the SACLA accelerator.

conduct, for example, XFEL-pump and SPring-8-probe type experiments.
All of the hardware of SACLA was assembled in February 2011,
followed by the initial electron beam commissioning which resulted in
the confirmation of 0.8 Å X-rays from the undulator with 8 GeVelectron beam in March 2011. The fact that the team has reachedlasing after only three months of electron beam commissioning
indicates (i) the validity of the basic design concept of the SPring-8
Compact SASE Source (SCSS) as well as the experience accumulated
during the operation of the SCSS prototype machine, (ii) thecertainty of the components’ development, design, fabrication,installation, alignment and tune-up and (iii) the adequacy of thebeam commissioning strategy.
The team is continuing commissioning of SACLA in order todeliver higher intensity and a shorter-wavelength X-ray laser withgreater stability. SACLA is expected to open for international public
users by March 2012. A call for proposals will be announced soon.

Gerd Materlik elected Fellow of the Royal Society

The SACLA team recording the moment at which it lased at 1.25 Å X-raywavelength.

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doi:10.1107/S0909049511022898

Gerd Materlik, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Diamond Light
Source in Harwell, Oxfordshire, UK, has been elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society (FRS). Appointed CEO at the launch of the DiamondLight Source project in 2001, Professor Materlik successfully led thecomplex project to construct and operate the UK’s nationalsynchrotron. In 2007, after Diamond welcomed its first users and wasformally opened by Her Majesty the Queen, he was awarded anhonorary Commander of the British Empire (CBE).
J. Synchrotron Rad. (2011). 18, 686–687

current events
Today, Diamond has 20 operational beamlines with two morenearing completion, providing facilities for thousands of researchers.
The British government recently confirmed funding for DiamondPhase III, and work has begun to design and construct ten new
beamlines by 2018.
On the occasion of receiving this latest honour, Gerd Materlik said
‘This is a tremendous honour. I feel very fortunate to have been
involved in such a fascinating area of science, and throughout mycareer I have had the support of wonderful teachers and colleagues.
Diamond is a very exciting project and a real team effort. I am
grateful to everyone who has been involved in contributing to its
success, and look forward to the next stage of the development andoperation of this world-class research facility.’

Keith Nugent, the new director of the Australian Synchrotron.
Canadian Synchrotron and Diamond agree to collaborate

Keith Nugent becomes director of the Australian Synchrotron

The Australian Synchrotron has announced the appointment ofProfessor Keith Nugent as Director of the Australian Synchrotron.
Keith Nugent, Research Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence
for Coherent X-ray Science and Laureate Professor of Physics at theUniversity of Melbourne, will replace Dr George Borg who has been
Acting Director of the Australian Synchrotron. He will combine theposition with his existing responsibilities. Dr Borg will take on thenew role of Chief Operating Officer and will be responsible for theday-to-day management of the facility. Keith Nugent will focus on
and be responsible for the Australian Synchrotron’s scientificleadership and strategic development. The Board paid tribute to theoutstanding work Dr Borg had done as Acting Director. It also
expressed its appreciation to the University of Melbourne, which had
made Professor Nugent’s appointment possible.

J. Synchrotron Rad. (2011). 18, 686–687

Making the power of synchrotron light available to more businesses,
building new experimental equipment and developing new capabilities are three of the areas of collaboration in a trans-Atlantic
memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between theDiamond Light Source and Canadian Light Source (CLS) in Saskatoon, Canada. The agreement paves the way for the two synchrotron
light sources to work together on joint projects related to theirindustrial science programmes, such as exchanges of staff, marketing
materials, and coordinating access for clients to capabilities that areavailable at one synchrotron but not the other.
‘Diamond and the CLS have been working closely together forsome time’, said Josef Hormes, Executive Director of the CLS. ‘Nowthat we have this formal agreement, I am looking forward to a very
bright future where the expertise of both our facilities can be
combined to accomplish momentous things for fundamental andindustrial science.’

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