DESY's accelerator PETRA to become a brilliant light source

DESY (in Hamburg, Germany) has begun plans to devote PETRA to synchrotron radiation science from 2007. At present, the PETRA storage ring is mainly used as a pre-accelerator for the super ring HERA, DESY's largest particle accelerator. Nearly 300 m of the 2.3 km-long storage ring have to be completely rebuilt to convert PETRA into a powerful light source, and a new experimental hall has to be constructed. Current plans envisage 13 insertion devices providing some of the brightest synchrotron light output in the X-ray region. This plan would complement DESY's X-ray free-electron project which is due to come into operation in 2011, assuming that other partners join in the building programme and in meeting the cost.

Figure 1 A view of PETRA.