Soleil begins to take shape

The construction of Soleil has started in earnest. The shape of Soleil can begin to be seen from a recent photograph taken in early October 2003. Soleil is located close to the current French synchrotron facilities DCI and Super-ACO at LURE in Orsay. LURE will close in December 2003. The close proximity of the original synchrotron radiation laboratory to Soleil has allowed an efficient transfer of skilled staff from LURE. Soleil expects to begin operation in January 2006 with 12 beamlines. To cover the two-year dark period, a new beamline has been built at the Swiss Light Source in Zurich, Switzerland, and arrangements have been made with several synchrotrons, including Elettra in Italy and the National Synchrotron Light Laboratory in Brazil.

Figure 1 Construction of Soleil begins.