The use of synchrotron radiation by a wide variety of scientific fields, from the physics of quantum matter to medicine and microbiology of soils, has expanded steadily worldwide thanks to the availability of always brighter light sources and advanced instrumentation. The Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS) has operated for more than 20 years the only synchrotron light source in Latin America, a second-generation synchrotron called UVX. A scientific community of thousands of synchrotron users has grown since this research infrastructure became available in the late '90s. Now, with the recent creation of Sirius, the new fourth-generation Brazilian synchrotron light source, a new phase for Latin American science has just begun. This research infrastructure is currently under commissioning by LNLS at the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM). Its 3-GeV storage ring, based on a Multi-Bend Achromat (MBA) magnet lattice, provides electron beams with size and divergence that match the phase space of the x-ray photons, approximating their so-called diffraction limit for tender x-rays. The dramatic increase in brightness and source coherence, allied to advances in optics, precision mechatronics, detectors, and computing, opens new research avenues within previously inaccessible spatiotemporal scales. The project initially foresees fourteen beamlines, seven of which are in the final installation stages and initiating commissioning. This suite of research instruments will provide scattering, imaging, and spectroscopy capabilities spanning length scales from centimeters to angstroms. This presentation will highlight some complementary experimental capabilities and the scientific opportunities to explore the characteristics of biological, hierarchical, and condensed matter systems.
16 сен 2024
