Six bids were received and all were from outside Canada. The contract was approved on Friday by the university's board of governors. A synchrotron is a high-tech machine that accelerates a stream of electrons and manipulates them to create an extremely bright light. The light can then be used by industrial and university scientists as a revolutionary new tool to observe structures and chemical reactions at the molecular level. Tesla Engineering is one of the largest international dipole magnet suppliers for major synchrotrons in the world.
Dipole magnets work as a lens to focus the electron beam.
The magnets are used to keep the electrons travelling in a circle, emitting synchrotron light and keeping the beam absolutely true. Each dipole magnet weighs 6,000 kilograms.