SOLEIL makes rapid progress

Since our report in November last year [J. Synchrotron Rad. (2003). 10, 468], the construction of the buildings has progressed rapidly. The roof of the SOLEIL synchrotron building is scheduled to be completed by the time this report appears in print. Then, assembling of the Linac can start in earnest and, in early October, the booster assembly will begin, and Linac testing will be underway in parallel. In November 2004 the storage ring will begin to be assembled while the final phase of construction work is being completed. The commissioning of the first beamlines is expected in September next year.

Figure 1 General view of the SOLEIL building site on 3 June 2004.

SOLEIL is a 2.75 GeV storage ring with a circumference of 354 m. SOLEIL will open with 12 beamlines in Phase 1. Currently, efforts are focused on ensuring that these are open to users in Spring 2006 (for more information, visit www.synchrotron-soleil.fr ). In addition to these beamlines, detailed design projects for the next seven beamlines have been launched, with some additional lines, including ones for industrial use, now under consideration. Denis Raoux, Director General of SOLEIL, said that the project has reached an exciting stage and that he was looking forward to observing the first light from SOLEIL next year.

Figure 2 Beginning of the roof structure of the experiment area of SOLEIL.